Mega Man X: Redemption of the Misjudged
by Alagar3000
Summary: History mistook him; branded him a maverick, traitor to his own kind. He is not without guilt, however, and now he must come to terms with how he was, and who he has, misjudged. FINISHED!
1. Prologue: A Brief History of Time

**Prologue - A Brief History of Time...**

_There has always been the potential to incorrectly judge a reploid maverick. The term we have come to apply is; one who is infected with the Maverick Virus. However, this is sometimes overlooked during a hunt and a reploid can be accidentally deemed maverick and wrongfully retired. Too often this is the result of not knowing the ulterior motive of the reploid in question. _-Reploids and Mavericks by Dr. James Cain

When you think about it, there aren't that many people who've come back from the dead. There's only been one human who may or may not have managed it a long time ago, but in modern days, it just doesn't happen.

Unless you happen to be a reploid, like me. But even then, not too many of my brethren are brought back from the pearly white gates once they've been sent that way through some means. The humans are probably just jealous they can't do it so hardly anybody gets to play Lazarus anymore.

There are exceptions to the rule of course. Several reploids have been resurrected multiple times. Just look at the Maverick Hunters pride and joy, Zero Omega. He's died and been brought back…what, two, three times now? I lose count. Another reploid has an even more impressive figure. Sigma, leader of the mavericks and general scourge of the planet, has been revived at least 10 times now.

There is, however, one lesser known reploid that's been rebuilt and reborn several times now. He started off as a Maverick Hunter, same as Sigma, where he was known for being a little bit excessive when hunting mavericks. History remembers him as Sigma's second in command during the first maverick uprising. He was killed by the hunters X and Zero and, eventually, someone got around to rebuilding him during the Dopplertown incident. Once again, he bought the farm at the hands of the same hunters as the first time and after a long hiatus, wherein much of the planet was destroyed by a falling space station, he was brought back to life just in time for the Jakob Project incident. Alas, the reaper must have really wanted him to stay where he was because he was destroyed once again, this time due to a trio of hunters instead of the original two he was used to.

One might wonder, if this maverick kept on getting destroyed, why does Sigma keep rebuilding him? Well, I can't presume to know the mind of Sigma, as warped and twisted by the multiple deaths as it is, but I think he likes a little familiarity surrounding him. And so it was, a few years after the incident with the Jakob Project, Sigma managed to obtain the remains of this reploid and proceeded to rebuild him for the third time, hoping that the legendary saying, 'third time's the charm' would come true for him.

But of course, what have I been thinking? All this talking and I haven't even mentioned who this reploid is. You'll have to forgive me, I don't do stories all that well. Well, I am this reploid, and I'm known as Vile.

* * *

End Prologue

Author's Note: Well, here it is, I felt that Vile's presence in Denique Fatum needed some more explaining and this is what I struck upon. I hope you'll all enjoy it just as much as Denique Fatum. And please leave some feedback, I love to know what people think.


	2. Ch 1: Awakenings

**Chapter One - Awakenings…**

_Trust me on this one X; don't die. Being reactivated is a real you-know-what. I only do it 'cause if I didn't who else would save your sorry butt? _-Zero Omega

Blackness. I can't see anything. I can't feel anything. Very much like being in a sensory deprivation chamber, or stasis I guess. It takes me a moment to even become aware that I am, in a sense, aware of anything.

Then comes the pain.

The world explodes into color as a fury crashes into my being. I howl as my body feels like it's being torn apart and lit on fire at the same time. I convulse on the floor, feeling all my systems overloading, blaring in my brain, trying to tell me what's wrong with me.

Then something very hard impacts my gut, and the pain I feel all over gets turned into pain I feel from only one point. I can see and feel again and I notice that I am in a room with various machines on the walls. I look behind me and see a table that has lots of little tubes and machines hovering over it. My ears also let me know they are working when I register some sound directed at me. "Get up. We have work to do."

I cough, a little fluid coming out of my mouth, and I turn to see who kicked me. Two massive legs stand before me and, as I turn my gaze upwards, I recognize the person connected to those legs. "Sigma," I choke out. I rise to my feet and ask, "what happened?"

He looks down at me with a scowl. "What do you think? You were destroyed by X, Zero, and their friend Axl. After that, they fought and destroyed both Lumine and myself. It's been ten years since, however, and my new plan is finally coming to fruition." Sigma turned and began walking out of the room. I quickly followed.

As we made our way through various rooms and corridors, Sigma began to speak again. "Now pay attention, because you need to be brought up to speed and I lack the patience to repeat myself. Over the past few years I have had a spy in the Hunters and he has proven himself to be an invaluable asset with regards to the intelligence I have gained about the Maverick Hunters current status. They grow weak and overconfident. In the past few months we've staged maverick attacks on various points around the world to test the hunters' responses. The only units that performed with any real decency were X's, Zero's, and Axl's unit. The other units have grown lax and the recruitment and training of new hunters is at it's lowest since before the Repliforce incident."

"So, what you are saying, is that you have been wasting your generals in pointless field research? X and Zero have always been the best of the hunters. Either one could take on any maverick and when they team up there is nothing that could stop them."

Sigma cracked a wry smirk as he looked down at me. "Always so quick to offer your tactical opinion. Yes, as it stands the hunters are still more then enough to stop our plans. However, if we weaken the core, the rest of the body will decay. Do you understand?"

"Weaken X and Zero? How so?"

Sigma laughed. "In time Vile, in time. Now, however, I would like to introduce you to my spy."

I noticed that we had stopped in a large room. It was bare except for some targets on the far wall: a training room. I looked around, seeing no one, and started to wonder what Sigma had meant, when it happened. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turn to see this new comer.

It was me. I backed up slightly, glad for the helmet which blocked my startled expression, while Sigma chuckled. "Now, now. Don't play mind-games with him. Let him see who you really are."

The copy of me gave an over-exaggerated bow and said, in a perfect simulation of my voice, "as you wish." It was then engulfed in a bright white light and began transforming into another form. When the light faded, I could see all the details of this copy. He was black and grey with red trim. He had two blue gems, one on his chest and the other on his forehead. However, his most striking feature was the orange hair sticking straight from under his helmet. My memories were still a little fuzzy due to my recent reactivation, but I had no trouble recognizing the reploid that stood before me: Axl.

My eyes widened behind my helmet. I stumbled back as he smirked. "Yeah, you remember me right? It's been ten years but I remember our fight like it was yesterday. You should have seen how many pieces you ended up in. It was hell trying to hide your remains on the way back from the Moon."

"You…but you…"

"Killed you? Yeah I know, I was there. But don't you worry about that. I won't do it again. Maybe…"

Sigma laughed as he walked over to Axl. "You see Vile, after the Jakob incident Axl was infected with the Maverick virus and now he's been filling me in on every little event that's been going on in the Maverick Hunter Headquarters. Recently he's dropped a particularly large bombshell that has made me come to the conclusion that our good friend Zero is close to fulfilling his true destiny."

"His true destiny? I don't understand what you're talking about."

"You never knew what made Zero special: never knew why I have always tried to convince him to join us. It's because he is destined to destroy X."

"Impossible, those two are inseparable. They've fought together since the beginning. Nothing could cause them to turn against one another."

"But you're wrong Vile. For a long time I was the only one who knew Zero's true nature but now I shall share it with you. Zero's secret lies in his creator, the one who knew what the future, and X, would bring to the world. All reploids have been based on X's design, you, me, even the copy reploids share this in common. However, no one could fully understand what Light had created with X, and so no other has ever been able to rival X's power. However, Zero is different. There was one man who grasped what Light had created with X: one man who was fully capable of replicating X's design. Zero is the product of that man, and Zero is the one who will destroy Mega Man X. You see, Zero's creator was Dr. Albert W. Wily."

I was stunned. "No…that's not possible. How…"

"During the X-Hunter incident, I foolishly tried to posses Zero. When that happened I saw into his mind and had access to some of his memories. What I saw in him was truly frightening. I saw the ultimate killing machine, something that would destroy whatever tried to stand in its way. That is when I knew that Zero was destined to join our side, to fulfill his destiny; destroying X, the last creation of Light."

"If what you're saying is true, how would we go about convincing Zero of this?"

"It has already started. Just yesterday Axl gave me some very good news. We were assaulting the MHHQ with copy reploids in the form of X when Zero apparently went berserk and nearly killed the real X. According to Axl, Zero has also been suffering nightmares and has been sent to a therapist. Can you imagine it? Yes, these are the signs I have been waiting for. The time is nigh and if my plan succeeds, Zero will fulfill his programming and destroy X."

"So, what is your plan? How are you going to cause this mental break in Zero that you keep alluding to?"

"It's simple. He won't believe me if I'm the one who tells him his purpose. I'm going to have him meet his creator."

This was unexpected. "What? But Wily was an old man back in the 21st century. Surely he's dead by now."

"Of course Vile, he was merely human. But he had contingency plans that let him live on through his works. I met one of those during the Eurasia incident and I'm going to introduce Zero to him. Subtly of course. It wouldn't do to have Zero think I've engineered this from the start. So Vile, does this plan meet with your approval?"

I could feel Sigma's and Axl's eyes boring holes into my helmet as they awaited my opinion. "Theoretically, it works. It would cripple the hunters and they would fall easily before your forces. My only question is, where do I come in?"

"Well Vile, right now I don't have a use for you. When my plan proceeds to it's next step, then I shall need you, however, now I want you prepare yourself for what is to come. Do whatever you like, that's what you do best."

I stood as Sigma turned and exited the room, followed closely by Axl. 'So, he just expects me to sit and wait and train does he? Well, I'll certainly prepare, but don't try to predict my actions, you'll be badly surprised.' I looked down at myself. I hadn't had a paint job yet and I was still lacking in weaponry. The perfect disguise. I resolved myself to reconnoitering my enemy, I needed to see if X had changed in the decade since we last met. I activated my warp system and headed for 'home.'

* * *

End Chapter 1


	3. Ch 2: Infiltration and Doubt

**Chapter Two - Infiltration and Doubt...**

_Maverick Hunter Headquarters is, without a doubt, one of the most secure facilities in the world. Protective shields allow only registered hunters to beam in, a multitude of scanners are used to detect even the faintest trace of the Maverick Virus, and the largest force of armed reploids mean total destruction to any maverick that would try to infiltrate the base. _-Promotional brochure 'MHHQ and the Maverick Hunters'

I landed a few hundred yards away from MHHQ, it wouldn't do to try to warp past their defenses. I hid my helmet in some bushes and walked to the main entrance. Inside the lobby I encountered a security guard that looked like he had one too many shifts where nothing happened.

He looked up at me, sighed, and said, "welcome to MHHQ. What is the nature of your visit," he droned. It was easy to tell he didn't appreciate being placed on guard duty.

"I'm here to become a hunter."

This caused him to perk up. "Really? Well that's good to hear. We've been slow in recruiting new members recently. So what's your weapon of choice?"

"Buster," I lied quickly. I hadn't used my buster in years, but hopefully it still worked as well as the day I had been activated.

The guard grinned at me. "A traditionalist eh? Well every little bit helps." He reached behind his desk and handed me some form. "now if you could fill these out as best you can. I'll get someone to come see you. If you want, Interviewing Room number one is open for use. It's down the hall, first door on your right."

I took the papers and a pen and headed for the room. I was going to have to be really careful from here on out, any slip-up could clue the hunters in on who I really was. Entering the room I quickly surveyed my surroundings. Two chairs, a table, and one window. Looked like they weren't too terribly concerned with aesthetics when they built this room. I sat down and stared at the first box on the form; 'name.' I tried to think of a fake name I could use for a while before I heard someone say, "hi! Are you the new recruit?"

'That voice.' I looked up and saw who was talking to me. My eyes went wide. Standing in the doorway was none other then Mega Man X. My mouth opened slightly as I knew that I was in serious trouble. 'Oh god, he'll know it's me, he's going to figure it out.' There was no way I was going to get away with this.

He sat down and looked at me. He didn't know yet. "Hey, don't do that, I'm nothing special. How about you though, what's your name?"

I couldn't think. "Vuh…vuh…" I managed to stutter out, knowing that that was too much.

X looked at me quizzically. "Vava?"

"Uh, yeah, Vava," I hastily replied. What a transparent effort it seemed to me.

"Vava huh? Well, ok then. I'll write that down. So, how's your day been?"

"Fine," I said, haltingly. Maybe he wouldn't find out. So far he seemed to genuinely believe that I was a legitimate recruit.

"That's good, I've been having it pretty hectic lately."

Now I was getting interested. It looked as if X was going to open up to me. If I played my cards right, I could get him to trust me and get in close. Then I could strike when his guard was down. "Really? What's been troubling you?"

X appeared lost in thought for a second, but then he looked at me and said, "never mind that. I'm taking up your time. Let's move on shall we? Let's see what you've written so far."

I handed him the papers that the security guard had given me. "Well, I hadn't actually started when you showed up."

"Oh that's alright, we'll just fill this thing in as we go. So tell me, have you had any previous experience with any sort of law enforcement outside of the hunters?"

I had to think fast. "Yeah, I was part of the Neo-Tokyo volunteer police force a couple of years back. I haven't done much since, but I've kept in practice with my weapons."

X wrote something down on the form. "Ok, now, say you see a human and a reploid involved in a heated argument. It's just words at the moment but you're worried it could escalate into violence, what's your first response?"

Ah, the situational questions. This would be easy, they obviously hadn't changed much with recruitment since I was a hunter. "I would intervene and get the story from both parties involved. Based on that I would try to suggest reasonable alternatives for venting anger to each party."

"Ok, a reploid has committed a crime and is attempting to escape from you. How do you stop him?"

Loaded question. "Assuming we were able to track his warp signature you mean?"

X looked relatively surprised that I had answered the way I did. "Very good, most rookies don't usually think about tracking warp signatures. Well, I could ask you the rest of these questions, but you certainly seem like the man for the job. It won't be official for another day or so, but welcome aboard!"

I wanted to show him just how much of a 'rookie' I really was, but I knew that I was getting closer to him this way. 'Just swallow your pride Vile. You're on a roll, don't want to let your temper ruin it.' "Well thanks. This is great. I really appreciate your accepting me. Any chance I could see where I'm going to be bunking?"

"Sure, in fact, I'll give you the grand tour of the place. Follow me."

We both stood up and walked out of the room. I let X lead me through the building as I studied everything I could. Things hadn't changed much, to my relief. I noticed a few new rooms and a couple of bad paint jobs, but all in all, very much the same HQ that I had deserted years ago.

After a couple of hours of walking, I was quickly loosing interest in what X was saying. "Hey, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but is there a place we could take a break and get something to eat or something. I need to sit down for a little bit."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't even notice how long we've been walking. Sometimes I get so carried away with what I'm doing I just totally space out. The cafeteria isn't too far away, we'll stop there."

I nodded and followed him on our way to MHHQ's cafeteria. Having a cafeteria in a place where 95% of the occupants were reploids would seem like an unnecessary waste of space and resources to most. However, for some inexplicable reason, it did the hunters good to have a place where they could talk with one another and 'break bread with one another,' so to speak. Something to do with moral that I never understood, although, truth be told, I was never one for social interactions, even when I was a greenhorn.

X and I stood in line and ordered the day's special, some stew-like mixture of vegetables and meat that didn't look particularly appetizing, and sat down at a free table. Remarkably, what ever it was, it was delicious and the two of us quickly dug into our bowls. Midway through the meal, X decided to speak up. "So, what made you want to join the hunters Vava?"

Luckily I had been spending most of the time we had spent touring HQ formulating a cover story for myself that I was mildly sure wouldn't get uncovered by anything less then a really nosy person taking a really close look at the records. "Well, when I was with the Neo-Tokyo volunteer police force, I came to fully understand the threat to humanity and reploid-kind that the mavericks posed. Of course, we never got the funding or the training to really take a stand against anything more then the occasional reploid who just needed to vent a little steam. I just felt like I could be doing more by signing myself up with the big dogs."

X nodded as I told my story. "Well that's great, I'm glad you want to make a difference. Too many people in the world get complacent and refuse to admit that things don't stay the same. But humans aren't the only ones guilty of that. Other reploids get too set in their ways as well. Some believe that we should remain subservient to humans and then others want to rule over them."

"Well that begs the question X, which side are you on?"

X seemed to look into the distance as he answered my question. "Neither, I share the beliefs of my creator, Dr. Light; the belief that humans and reploids can coexist in peace, and that's why I fight. Like my brother before me, I fight for everlasting peace."

I was surprised. This was hardly the X I knew so long ago, the one who could barely level his buster at an enemy without some look of doubt causing him to seize up. He had resolve, determination, purpose. He had grown and evolved into something different. I decided to probe this line of revelations further. "Everlasting peace? Isn't that a bit of a lofty goal? Universal peace between reploids and humanity would be exceedingly hard to achieve, even for one such as you."

X chuckled a bit as he looked at his food. "Well, I have to admit, I have been called an incurable optimist by lots of people."

"That you have X my boy. But come now, aren't you going to introduce me to your new buddy?"

That voice! I turned around to see who had joined in on our conversation. My eyes bulged, I froze up, and nearly cried out in panic as I registered who was standing before me.

"Axl! What's up? I was just showing our new recruit around the place and we decided to take a break and get something to eat." X then stood and walked to our sides. "Vava? Meet Axl, he's the commander of the 6th unit, mag-weapon users."

Axl grinned, looked me in the eye and said, "pleased to meet you…Vava. Hope you like being a hunter. X? If I could talk to you over here for a sec?"

"Oh yeah, sure. Excuse me Vava, I'll be back in a sec."

As the two of them walked to an unoccupied corner, I considered fleeing. I had no way of knowing what Axl was going to do now that he knew I was here. He may have been Sigma's spy, but exposing me would have earned him major brownie points with the hunters. Good for him and his mission, fatal for me. I could see X's expression darken as he and Axl talked and I knew that Axl was going to expose me.

X walked back over and began to speak. "Vava? Look, I'm really sorry about this but I'm afraid some urgent business has come up. I'm going to leave you with Axl, is that okay?"

Not knowing what else to do I simply nodded my head.

X gave a sympathetic smile, "sorry again, maybe we can pick up later? If that's okay with you?"

"Sure…yeah, I would like that. See ya."

X made his way to the exit and left. Then Axl turned and sat down directly across from me. His expression had changed from the slightly energetic, happy-go-lucky face he had had in X's presence, to one that was decidedly more sinister. "I'm pretty sure this wasn't what Sigma meant when he gave you leave to act on your own, 'Vava.'"

My expression also darkened. If he hadn't told X about me when he had the perfect opportunity, I was willing to bet that he wouldn't try to unless I totally defied Sigma's orders. "Sigma's only order to me was to prepare myself for what was to come. Seeing as how he didn't see fit to tell me what his plan was, I resolved myself to doing recon of the Hunters, X in particular, and the best way was to infiltrate their ranks."

Axl leaned back a little. "A cunning move. Just remember who your lot is cast with. Remember when I helped kill you. I was one of the good guys then. Just think of what I'll do now that I'm not." Still grinning, he got up and left. Just as he was about to exit the cafeteria, however, he turned and looked at me. He was now the cheery faced hunter again. "By the way, the simulation room would be a great place to get some extra training in. You should check it out. Later dude." And with that, he left the room.

I sat staring at the exit he had taken, wondering if maybe there would be a surge of hunters that would barge in and destroy me if I so much as blinked. I knew I couldn't trust Axl as long as I was here and that I would have to be careful lest he suddenly decide I was no longer worth the trouble to keep quiet about. Then my thoughts shifted to X. He had grown, evolved if the word was appropriate. Could Sigma have been right all those years ago, when he said that X had the potential to advance the reploid race? Had I misjudged X all this time simply because he didn't meet my ideals of what potential was?

I needed time away from all these doubts I was having. I resolved to head over to the simulation room and practice my buster work. Looking down at the table I noticed that I still had food left in my bowl. I was about to throw the contents away in the nearest trash bin, when I noticed that X's bowl was empty. 'Wasteful,' I thought. I sat back down and finished the food, and then bused my tray. I left the cafeteria and headed for the simulation room, stopping momentarily to ask directions. I hate to admit it, but back in my day we didn't have a simulation room. 'Simulated fights for simulated soldiers? Heh, this better be good.'

* * *

End Chapter 2

Author's Note: Well, there's the first update. Took me a while to come up with the title for this story but I think it suits Vile. As always, I would appreciate any constructive criticism you all could give me. With that said, I'm off to write some more.


	4. Ch 3: Uncovering Plots

**Chapter Three - Uncovering plots...**

_It is often said that '__history is written by the winners.'__ However, the winners should not be trusted implicitly. Different people can have wildly different accounts of the same event. Our job, as physical historians if you will, is to try to form the most accurate picture of an event through the collation of __'__physical stories,__'__ or, as they're known to the lay person, artifacts. _-Dr. James Cain, 'The Archaeology Lectures'

The Beeblader launched it's rockets at me. "Pathetic." I easily jumped over the explosive projectiles and blasted the orbs it sent out to attack me. Several more blasts were all it took to destroy the giant machine. Leaping up as it careened into the road beneath me, I continued making my way down the highway. Now this brought back memories. Right before Sigma started his revolt against the humans, he released me and told me his plan to change the world. It was this highway that I found myself wandering down when the hunters sent their first attack against Sigma's forces. It was here where I fought X for the first time. I defeated him then, and I would have finished him had Zero not rescued him.

But this was not that highway, all those years ago. This was some training computer's recreation of it. The enemies I was fighting weren't real and there was no way I could die like I had in the past. Casually blowing away anything that got in my way, I reached the spot where X and I had dueled years ago. However, to my surprise, X was nowhere to be seen. 'Is the simulation over?'

Suddenly my question was answered as I heard a loud noise from above me. I looked up and saw the Death Rogumer, Sigma's flag ship which was piloted by Storm Eagle. I wondered what it was doing here when, all of a sudden, the rear hatch opened up and a very large figure fell to the road. I gasped as I realized what it was. I was staring at myself, clad in full armor, and inside of the Goliath Ride Armor. "So, you're what the hunters sent, huh? I'm insulted. Oh well, the Goliath needs a work out, and you'll do!"

Without a second's hesitation the simulation charged at me. Stupidly, I let myself be hit, and what a hit it was. I knew the safety protocols were on, but it still hurt like hell. I tried to get to my feet but before I could even move, the simulation leapt on top of me, pinning me to the ground. After it stomped on me several times, it reached down and grabbed me with it's massive hands. It slowly applied pressure to me as I saw myself at the controls. "Ha ha ha! You can't even put up any resistance. It was a mistake for you to come here, it's just too bad you won't survive long enough to learn from it."

All of a sudden, everything disappeared and I was back in the simulation room of the MHHQ. The safety protocols had kicked in and ended the scenario at what would have been my death in the real world. The realization that I had failed the mission crept into my head and I slammed my fist into the ground with frustration.

"Hey, don't worry, everybody freezes up on that one the first time." I heard a voice come from the rooms entrance. Half expecting to see that X had come back from what ever business he had had to take care of, I turned to greet the new comer. In the split second before I clearly saw who it was I realized that this voice was a few octaves lower then X's, but still one that I remembered clear as day. Then I saw who it was and the reason for the familiarity was revealed: I was now face to face with Zero.

I briefly wondered about the seemingly cosmic irony that caused him to show up when he did before panicking again. If anyone would recognize me, it would be him. Zero had been directly responsible for my first loss to X. He had been the one who destroyed my ride armor and distracted me, leaving me open to X's attack.

As I stood, frozen, he walked towards me. He stuck his hand out towards me and said, "my name's Zero. How about you?"

"V…Vava." I cautiously took his hand in mine and we exchanged greetings.

"Vava huh? You must be that new recruit some of the guys were talking about. Well, looks like you were doing real good there for a while."

"Yeah, I just wasn't prepared for… that."

"Neither was X. That was the first time I rescued him."

I decided to feign ignorance. Zero would get suspicious if I didn't act curious. "Really? How do you mean?"

"Well, that maverick you just went up against was called Vile. He was a real bad egg. Before Sigma's first uprising, he was imprisoned for the excessive violence he used when retiring other mavericks. Of course, he fit right in with Sigma's bunch. Caused quite a bit of problems. And to top it all off, he's been rebuilt several times. He's a true maverick, and I'll bet you anything he'll show up again."

I had to bite my tongue to keep myself in check. 'He doesn't know what it's like, being remembered for something that you didn't do. I was never part of 'Sigma's bunch.' And I never exhibited any other behavior that follows the classic definition of maverick.' "He certainly sounds like bad news."

"That's an understatement. Well, X had been going through the same things you just did, when he came upon Vile. Unfortunately for X, Vile was a bit too much for him and I had to save him."

"How did you defeat him?"

"Well, later on, near the end of the uprising, we fought him again in Sigma's fortress. He was in his ride armor again and he put up one hell of a fight. We managed to destroy his ride armor and then we defeated him. I was too badly damaged from the fight however, resulting in my death, the first of several."

'NO! That wasn't right! I won! X beat me because I got careless, but I defeated him! If it hadn't been for Zero, I would have finished it. I would have changed the world.'

"Uh, you okay man?"

I looked up; Zero was staring at me worriedly. "W…what?"

"Well, not that I mind or anything, but normally when I mention that I died people usually ask questions. You know, 'what was it like' or things like that."

"Oh…yeah." I couldn't let him know that I had intimate knowledge of that subject. "Well I just figured you'd probably get annoyed with me if I asked. I imagine it's a sort of personal thing."

Zero looked taken aback. "Well…thanks. Not too many people are that considerate nowadays. Say, would you like to do some sparring? I've been trying to get X to join me, but he thinks it's a bad idea for us to spar together. Although, considering the past few weeks, I can see his reasoning."

"Sure, I'd love to, but what's going on between you and X. Word was you two have been best friends for decades?"

"Well, I probably shouldn't talk about it, but X would want me to be more open." Zero briefly looked at me; for a minute I thought he wasn't going to go any further, but then he sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Sure," I replied, knowing this could be my big break in getting closer to X.

Zero looked down towards the floor and began to speak. "Lately I've been having some bad dreams. Yeah, I know, not very common in a reploid, right?"

"Oh, no. I don't think I've ever even heard of a reploid that had bad dreams."

"Well, you're looking at one now. What's worse is that it's the same dream over and over again. I think it has something to do with my creator, but I don't even know who that is."

"You don't?"

"No, I was reactivated by Dr. Cain years ago with no memories of who my creator was or what happened to me prior to my reactivation. Sigma…this was back when he was one of the good guys, told me that I was the only survivor of a renegade maverick's mad rampage. Other then that, it's all a blank. But anyways, back to the dream. It starts out in some warehouse and I'm there, inside some sort of stasis tube. I get out of it and I see the bodies of dead robots lying on the ground. Then I see a man silhouetted in bright light, and he starts talking to me."

"And you think he has something to do with your creator?"

"I think he is my creator. He then tells me that I need to destroy everything, and he specifically mentions X."

"Wow, that's weird."

Zero looked at me again. "I'd appreciate if you didn't mention this to anyone. I've been trying to talk to X, but he wants me to see some shrink."

First he's having dreams that tell him he is the destroyer of everything, and now he's going to see a psychologist? This was unusual. What Sigma had said was starting to make sense to me now. If Sigma hadn't lied to me, then Zero was having dreams about Dr. Wily. This was bad. If Zero really was the final creation of Dr. Wily, then Sigma's plan could mean the destruction of everything in the world. 'That can't happen. If that's Sigma's plan, I have to try to stop it. But I still have to be careful, I can't let them know who I am.'

"Hey, you ok, you started spacing out again."

"Yeah…yeah, I'll be fine. Don't worry, I won't tell anybody."

"Thanks buddy. Hey you want run a few scenarios with the training computer?"

"Well actually, I just remembered I have a prior engagement with some old friends of mine. Can I take a rain check?"

"Sure, that's cool." Zero looked slightly downcast, but I sensed from his tone that he was expecting my rejection. "I guess I'll catch you later then?"

"Yeah, yeah, later." I made my way out of MHHQ, retrieved my helmet, and proceeded to warp back to Sigma's hideout. We needed to talk.

* * *

End Chapter 3


	5. Ch 4: Discoveries

**Chapter 4 - Discoveries...**

_Leaders require followers. Followers require a purpose to believe in. However, there are instances where the purpose a leader invents can be a made up story to excuse the actions of his followers. Such is the case with influential men from ancient conquerors to modern day madmen. _-Dr. James Cain, 'On the Topic of Uprisings'

"SIGMA!" My warp beam touched down directly in the control room of Sigma's latest base and I was now scouring it for his unique presence.

I didn't have to look far. Sigma emerged from a door in the back of the room and walked over to me. "Ah Vile, I was wondering when you would return from your excursion to the MHHQ. Was it fruitful?"

Damn, he knew about that. I should have figured Axl would tell him. "Actually yes. I've managed to get myself close to X and Zero in one day. However, some information I have just uncovered is disturbing me. Zero doesn't know who his creator is, and you plan on somehow reuniting them. Why? What will Zero do when he knows Dr. Wily was the man who created him?"

Sigma grinned. "Are you saying that Zero is far too much of an upstanding, noble, and law-abiding reploid to embrace the destruction that he was created for?"

I stayed quiet. The less Sigma knew about what I was thinking, the better for me.

Sigma grunted and turned his back towards me. He was now heading for his other room. I hastily followed. "Unfortunately you'd be right. Zero is no X, but he still has lines he won't cross, and all the time spent with X as his friend is probably what created those lines in the first place. No, merely knowing his true purpose will only cause him to distance himself from it, the last thing I want. He must be reverted to his true identity, the Zero that existed before our fight. He must become the red demon once again."

As I followed Sigma into his private quarters, I was puzzled. 'Our fight?' Sigma had never mentioned this to me. "Once again? What does that mean?"

"I never told you where the Maverick Virus originated, did I? Most everyone would have you believe that I was the one who created it. That it was designed as a means of spreading my influence to every reploid on the planet, and as an insurance policy were my body ever to be destroyed. But no, while it has certainly served those purposes, that was not it's true origin." Sigma turned around and started advancing towards me. "You've never experienced it have you? The feelings it causes, how it slowly chips away at ones sanity until you are nothing but a slave to the three commands it gives: destroy, infect, survive. Nothing but destroy, infect, survive. Over and over again: destroy, infect, survive."

I backed up quickly and noticed the door was closed and locked. I couldn't see any way of opening it from this side. I looked back at Sigma and saw that his hands had a black aura around them. Sigma laughed, and for the first time, I truly feared for my life.

"You don't want it do you? You are strong now, but this would empower you, enough to kill X perhaps. You should be grateful that I'm even offering it to you. You really don't have a choice in the matter, I could force it on you."

Sigma then abruptly turned away and the aura around his hands disappeared. "However, if I were to do that, I would lose you to the blood lust that the virus bestows. I still need you, so you are safe from the virus for now." The lights in the room came on and I could see Sigma walking towards what looked like a stasis capsule.

I let out a sigh of relief as I realized Sigma was probably not lying about needing me sane. "The thing about the maverick virus is that it is generally considered foreign programming in reploids. Doppler was on the right track with his anti-virus, but it was not a permanent cure. It merely caused the virus to lie dormant in the reploids systems for a period of time, until the code was able to reassert itself. Now the hunters have scanners that detect the presence of the code in a mavericks systems making it impossible to get an ordinary maverick inside as an infiltration agent."

"There is one reploid, however, in which the code does not present as abnormal or foreign; Zero. You remember that 'crazy red maverick' that destroyed a whole unit of hunters decades ago, right Vile?"

I had to think hard. It had been a very long time since I was one of the hunters. "Yeah…I think so. You had to go in and take it out personally right?"

"Well, it was no ordinary maverick. It was none other than our friend Zero, but he was not hampered by any sense of morality. He was pure, the virus was almost totally in control. He very nearly destroyed me. But then his dormant personality, the one that became the hunter and who befriended X, tried to stop it and I managed to disable him. What I didn't know at the time, was that by breaking his control chip covering, I initiated transfer of the virus to myself. Zero was reactivated, with his developed personality now in control, and I became a maverick, the very thing I fought to destroy."

I was shocked. Sigma had never revealed this information to me. I almost felt pity for him. But I knew that the real Sigma had died long ago, and that this was merely the virus' sick and twisted incarnation of him. "So, you are planning on re-infecting him with the virus?"

Sigma smirked at me. "Very good Vile, you are quick. From what Axl has been telling me, Zero is having nightmares about his past. Just the other day, in fact, after an attack on the hunter's base, Zero violently attacked X and almost killed him. Of course, X and the other hunters think that Zero merely mistook X for one of the copy-reploids disguised as him, but that is not the case. Zero held back during most of the attack because he feared he might fatally injure the real X, but just before he himself would have been killed, he suddenly went into a blood frenzy and brutally killed most of the attacking reploids. This was the virus' doing, but it was not strong enough and Zero managed to stop it from taking over."

"So, if you lure him away from X and all of his other supports to meet with Wily, then inundate him with the virus, he'll revert to his original programming; the way he was when he fought you?"

"Precisely, and then he will destroy X, along with everything else. You see Vile, Zero won't stop with X's death, nor will the deaths of the humans placate him. Everything on this planet will be destroyed; reploids, humans, everything."

"But, why? What about your ambition to raise the reploids to dominance? What about all the reploids who believed in you?"

"They were all fools. It was never going to happen. Even when I first started these rebellions, I knew it would be too much, but followers need a cause to rally behind. At least, as long as it took for the virus to override their systems. So I gave them one, albeit, a false one. The virus would not be satisfied with the deaths of the humans and their sympathizers, eventually the mavericks would turn on one another for the sake of destruction. There would be no winners, no champions of reploid superiority, there would only be death. But then, you suspected that from the beginning didn't you?"

My gaze turned to the floor. "I didn't know you would go this far. I only wanted to prove myself. I only wanted X. To destroy him and prove that he wasn't the one who would change the world. I didn't want this! This damned existence that you've given me!"

Sigma's grin of malice got wider. "It's too late for that now. Where would you go? Back to Maverick Hunter Headquarters? That's a laugh. As soon as you reveal yourself, you'd be shot on sight. Axl told me that you were making friends with X, and I…"

"No! I was just…just trying to get in close to him. Then I would…I'd…" I trailed off. Truthfully, I wasn't sure what I'd do now that I had started getting to know X again. He was so different now then he was before.

Sigma glared at me then turned his back towards me, signaling an end to the conversation. "I think you had better find where your true loyalties lie Vile. You are dismissed."

The door behind me opened and I hastily walked out. I managed to retain my composure until I was about half way through the control room. I broke out into a run as I tried to put as much distance between myself and Sigma as I possibly could. I stopped running when I reached the training room, and I realized that I still had no idea where I was going. Then I hesitated. "I know you're there Axl. You watched the whole thing didn't you?"

The voice seemed to echo from around the room, making it impossible to pinpoint it's exact location. "I certainly did. Your behavior is certainly enigmatic, and I wonder what Sigma is thinking by leaving you in this state."

"Well, as long as he is leaving me this way, I would say it's in your best interest to leave me alone."

"Heh, very well. I don't want Sigma angry with me, so I will do as you ask. Just remember, after your use has ended, I'll still be around." I heard footsteps receding from me and then the door I had just come through opening and closing.

I continued waking through the base until I found an elevator that took me to the surface. "Snow? Huh, wonder where this place is." I left my helmet near the elevator's entrance so I wouldn't get lost and began to walk. I needed to find a place where I wouldn't be disturbed so I could think and plan my next move. "Ok, what do I know for sure? This is obviously not typical thinking on Sigma's part. He's going to destroy the whole world if it comes to it. I wish I knew where he was going to lure Zero. Then I might have a chance to stop this. Damn him, he devised this to torture me. I know that he knows I want to stop him, but I can't do anything about it without getting myself killed. If only I could…"

My monologue ended as I noticed the wind that had been blowing snow in my face had abruptly stopped. I looked around, puzzled and thought I saw a faint shimmer in front of me. I looked closer and noticed that the other side of the valley seemed closer then I remembered it being. 'No way I've been walking that long.' I kept walking forward and suddenly I was face to face with an enormous castle. 'What the? It must have been cloaked. I've heard about cloaking things, but a whole castle?' It looked Russian from what I could see. There was an entry way stylized like an old wooden door directly in front of me. When I went to open it however, I could tell immediately that it was made of metal, and furthermore, it required a password. I pressed a few buttons on a panel next to it when I heard a voice come through the panel.

"Who are you?" The voice sounded like a human, but it was slightly metallic. 'Must be a robot of some kind.'

"I'm…my name is Vava." I had no idea who the voice on the other side belonged to and I didn't want to give up my identity that quickly.

"Are you a friend or a foe?"

"That depends on who your friends are."

There was a slight pause on the other end as the voice thought about this. "Do you serve the mavericks."

"No I do not." A maverick would have said 'Lord Sigma,' or something to that effect, so I knew that whoever lived or operated out of here considered the mavericks a foe.

This time there was a longer pause. Finally, the door opened and I made my way inside. "Enter, but go no further."

I walked in and stopped to wait as the door closed behind me. I waited for a few minutes until I could hear footsteps draw near. The figure stepped into the dim light and I could make out it's physical features. It was short, at least a head shorter then me, fully colored in yellow and black, and had a headdress that looked like something out of King Tut's tomb. 'Why does this thing look so familiar?'

It stopped a few feet away from me and looked me over from head to toe. It's arms crossed it asked, "what are you doing here?"

"I was just wandering around when I stumbled on this place."

"Wandering around? In the middle of the Siberian wastelands? Even for a reploid, that's absurd."

"Why do you assume I'm a reploid?"

"You'd have to be to have made it through as sane as you are. Cloaking devices are similar to warp generators in that both are known for their deleterious effects on the human brain."

"Fair enough. But I know that cloaking devices are meant to hide things. I just never knew they could hide something of this size. That begs the question; what is so important here that would require hiding using the largest cloaking field on the planet?"

The other robot, it must have been that for it was true what it said about humans and cloaking fields, let out what could be considered a sigh and lowered it's eyes."It's obvious that you are not a maverick, but I can't say you have good intentions solely on that. You must give me more then that. How can I trust you?"

I thought hard about this question before finally coming up with the perfect answer. "I'm a maverick hunter and friends with X."

The robot looked intrigued. "Hmmm…there's no way I can substantiate your claim without exposing this complex. However, if you really are a maverick hunter, I can trust you with information that I am privy to. If you are not what you claim, well, at least you don't seem the type that would leak the existence of this place against my wishes."

"Don't worry about that. I haven't even seen anything worth blabbing about to anyone yet."

"That may be so, but trust me, by the time you leave here, you will know a great deal more about the world then you could have ever guessed. But I forget my manners, please allow me to introduce myself; my name is Pharaoh Man."

My eyes shot open in shock. "What?"

* * *

End Chapter 4

Author's Note: Well this certainly took alot longer then I'd expected. Although with classes and other social obligations, it's getting tough finding enough spare time to flesh this beast out. Don't worry Rock Raider, Vile isn't going good yet, he just has a vested interest in making sure Sigma and Zero don't destroy the entire world. So, I read the interview with Inafune wherein he states that Zero did not kill the Classic series characters because, and I quote, "According to the way I created him, Zero is not such a person--it is not in his profile."

...

Damn. Well, he is the boss and his word is the final one in any arguement, however, in defense of Zero killing everybody (and my stories in a way), the Zero that brutally maimed and nearly killed Sigma in the cutscene from X4, and whom it was stated in X3 that X would eventually have to destroy, is such a person.


	6. Ch 5: Turning Point

**Chapter 5 - Turning Point…**

_The term Maverick used to only apply to reploids that decided they didn't want humans ordering them around. Even after Sigma's uprising, people still thought that the mavericks chose to be the way they were. The change in that belief occurred when Dr. Doppler discovered the Maverick Virus and created his vaccine. This turning point, if you will, lead to a dramatic change in the perception and judgment of not only the mavericks, but the reploid race as a whole. _-'Professor Xavier Hikari' lecturing to NIT students

The robot beckoned me to follow him through the hallways. "I can understand your surprise, but be reassured, I am telling you the truth. I am Pharaoh Man; a robot can't lie."

"You…but, I don't understand. How are you…aren't you dead? I mean, I never took a history course in my life, but I was under the impression that all you Wily bots were destroyed by Mega Man."

At this, Pharaoh Man stopped and turned around. "I am not, and have never been, a Wily bot as you so eloquently put it. I was built by Dr. Sergei Cossack who was blackmailed into starting a robot rebellion by Dr. Wily. Naturally, there was some stigma associated with us when the doctor rebuilt us, but he wanted us around to protect his daughter should something have happened to him." He continued walking and I followed.

"And that's what you've been doing. What about the cloak? Wouldn't it have…"

"No. The doctor and his daughter have long since passed. We are all that's left."

Now I was really confused. "We?"

The lights brightened in the room we had entered and I saw what Pharaoh Man was talking about. Pharaoh Man walked to the other side of the room and joined the seven other robots that were standing there. "These are my brothers. You may have read about them. Dust Man, Skull Man, Dive Man, Drill Man, Toad Man, Bright Man, and Ring Man."

"My god…you guys are living legends! Do you know how much people could learn from you? The historical knowledge would be amazing."

Bright Man spoke this time. "We don't want for people to know about our existence. Better to remain legends then to unearth too many questions."

"What questions are you afraid of?"

Ring Man replied this time. "Well since I guess we're trusting you with the knowledge of our existence, I suppose we should be honest. We're afraid people would ask us what happened to Mega Man."

This was interesting. Every reploid worth his control chip knew that Mega Man was the reason the reploid race even exists. 'But they do have a point. Nothing says anything about Mega Man after a certain point in time. It's as if he and Wily and all the players of that age just dropped off of the face of the Earth.' "Well okay, that's fair. Seeing as how he just disappeared from the record books, I suppose he's in hiding as well? That would be strange, but about as strange as eight 'Cossack bots' living in a cloaked castle in Siberia."

It was then that I noticed all the robots had their heads tilted downwards, almost as if they were mourning. Pharaoh Man spoke. "No, he is not in hiding…he's dead."

I was stunned, partly because of this revelation, and partly because I had just realized how much of an ass I made of myself. "I'm…sorry. How?"

"Murdered, by Wily's final creation. The red demon known as Zero."

'Oh god! It was true then. Sigma couldn't have created this little scenario just for me. If Zero was the one responsible for the death of Mega Man, then Sigma must have been right about the virus and Zero's clashing personality. I've got to find some way of stopping it.'

"You are not surprised by this?"

I broke out of me reverie to see the robot masters staring intently at me. "Wh…what?"

Skull Man stepped forward. "We just told you that Zero was the final creation of Dr. Wily. You're a maverick hunter, correct? I would think this information would be alarming to you."

'Damn it.' I was trapped now. "Oh, it is. I just…"

The rest of the robots advanced on me. Pharaoh Man said, "Vava's not your name is it? Who are you really?"

I was about to think of something clever when my communicator went off. "Vile. What is your location? Our scanners say you haven't teleported out of the base, but no one seems to know where you are."

The robots recoiled in horror. They must have kept up with the news because they obviously knew that voice. "Sigma," Pharaoh Man muttered. "You're a maverick!"

I had to be quick. "I'm in the middle of something. I'll report back later." I turned off my communicator. "I'm not a maverick."

"That was the leader of the mavericks! And your name is Vile! You're the maverick that keeps getting rebuilt! What are you trying to pull?"

"I've never been totally in league with Sigma. I've never even been infected with the Maverick Virus. Right now I have a bigger priority. Sigma is going to try to destroy the world, and he's going to use Zero to do it."

"What?"

"Yeah, I know Dr. Wily created Zero, Sigma informed me on that little detail. What you guys probably don't know was that Wily also created the Maverick Virus. That's what makes Zero so dangerous and that's why Sigma's the leader of the mavericks, he was infected by Zero a long time ago. This caused Zero's dormant personality to emerge and allowed him to become the maverick hunter everybody loves to idolize."

"That would explain the difference in personality Zero showed after he was reactivated. He was completely different when he fought Mega Man then he is now. But why are you doing this? If you are not infected with the Virus then why are you serving Sigma?"

"I haven't always served Sigma. The only reason I've helped him in the past was to destroy X. But things have changed. Sigma plans on inundating Zero with the Virus so that his personality will be suppressed and he will become what he once was."

If it had been possible for a robot to pale in fear I could swear Pharaoh Man would have done so. "The Demon…" He shook his head and stared at me. "You are correct Vile, we have to do something about this. What do you suggest?"

I didn't realize that I was going to be made de facto leader of this group. "Well…Sigma won't tell me when he's going to go through with this. I think he suspects that I may try to sabotage his plan. I highly doubt I'll get anything more from him. Furthermore, I'm relatively positive that I'm not safe if I go back to Sigma. He's got his spy keeping tabs on me and if I go back, he'll follow me to the ends of the earth."

"Who is his spy?"

"It's Axl."

"What? But Axl is a hunter!"

"He's been infected with the Virus. Don't ask me how, but somehow he doesn't show up on the scanners, I haven't figured that out yet."

"My god, a double agent all this time? What could we do?"

I looked to the floor. "Not much. The instant I try to rat out Sigma's plan to the hunters, I immediately get ID'd as Vile the maverick and am retired on the spot. So I can't warn anybody, and I can't try to stop whatever Sigma's plan is from happening."

"So it would seem we are reduced to reactionary forces."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. Alright, here's what's going to happen. I'm going to go back to Sigma's and tell him I was just outside contemplating the current events. Then I'm going to go back to the hunters. It's only been about an hour or so since I left, so hopefully I won't have been missed. If something big happens, probably something involving Zero, I'll give you guys a call and let you know the situation."

Pharaoh Man and the other robot masters nodded in agreement. "Very well Vile. We shall await an update. Good luck."

With that I left the castle and entered the freezing tundra.

--

I made my way back to the base and eventually found Sigma. "You called?"

Sigma was assuredly pissed off. 'Maybe I shouldn't have hung up on him. He's always harder to deal with when he's angry.' "Where have you been? We've been looking everywhere for you."

"What for?"

"It's about Zero. Axl tells me that he has an appointment with a reploid psychologist tomorrow. Odd isn't it?"

"Zero is no ordinary reploid though. He was created by a madman bent on destroying the world."

"Point taken. Since you've had so much success in infiltrating the Hunters, I wanted you to try to get closer to X. The recent events have put a lot of strain on him and this would be a good time to figure him out, as you seem so keen on doing. I want to know his emotional state. It'll make the next part of the game easier if I do."

"Why don't you have your lackey do it?"

"X puts on a different attitude with Axl. I'm hoping he'll open up better to the new recruit who probably won't say anything if asked by the famous hunter."

Excellent! This would allow me to get closer to X without arousing Sigma's suspicion even more then I already have. "Very well then. It would certainly make him easier prey for me."

"Very good Vile. See to it then. Report back to me in twenty four hours."

I warped out of the base and towards Hunter headquarters.

--

Ditching my helmet near the complex once again, I went inside the front door. The same security guard noticed me. "Hey! They not get your signal coded in yet?"

Every hunter's warp signature had to be logged into the central computer to allow warp entry directly into the base. Unfortunately for me, my signature has already been coded as a maverick a long time ago. If I try to warp directly into headquarters, not only will the shield repel me, it'll alert every single hunter in the building to my coordinates. "Nah, not yet. Still got to do all sorts of paperwork yet."

"Ugh, tell me about it. You have a good night man."

"Yeah, you too." I continued to make my way into headquarters; I needed to find X.

The problem, however, was that such an action was easier said then done. I went to the training rooms, the supply bay, the medical ward, and even the courtyard, and all with no luck. Finally I resigned myself to getting something to drink at the cafeteria. I walked through the door, and suddenly, 'jackpot!' There X sat with some female reploid that didn't look familiar to me. He hadn't seen me yet, so I walked over and sat at a table facing away from them. I tried to listen in as best as I could, but they were speaking very softly.

"I just don't know anymore. I want Zero to know that I'm here for him, but he's been putting more and more distance between us. And now that he's got this therapy session to go to I'm worried it might not go the way we want."

The girl spoke up now. "Hey, don't worry about it. You and Zero have been friends for decades. Whatever he's dealing with right now, he'll figure it out and things will probably go back to the way they were."

"I hope so."

I slowly peered over my shoulder to see more of what this girl X was talking to looked like. Then I saw them holding hands. 'Oh! Oh my god! He loves her.'

X stood up. "Well, I guess I should go see if I can find Zero. Got to get him ready for his appointment tomorrow. I'll see you later Alia."

The girl, Alia apparently, stood up next to him and caught him in an embrace. "I'll see you X."

As the two of them walked out together I sat in shock at what I had just witnessed. 'Oh god. He loves her. I…I can't…he's changed so much.' I hung my head in defeat.

"Hey there buddy. What's up."

'Damn.' "Axl. What do you want?"

The young reploid sat down in front of me, grinning all the while. "Well, it's not really what I want. If it was…well, it wouldn't be pretty. Actually, I was asked by Sigma to ask you if you figured anything out yet.

I looked towards the floor. "He loves her," I muttered.

"Uh, what? Could you say that again?"

"X loves her. That girl, Alia. They…"

"Oh, right, yeah yeah yeah, we already know that. In fact…well I probably shouldn't tell you this." Axl looked to his left and right quickly, he looked like he was having a very difficult time trying to contain his excitement. "Ohh, what the hell! Part of Sigma's master plan is the destruction of the hunters. Well, before that, I'm going to go in and kill quite a few myself. But I was thinking of infecting that babe Alia with the Virus. Eh, eh?"

My eyes widened. I shouldn't have been surprised, but even for a maverick, this amount of calculated cruelty was overwhelming.

"And of course, it would be the best if X had to be the one that fought her after the Virus overwrote her mind. Man, that would be something to see."

If I hadn't been so shocked by Axl's idea, I'm certain I would have leapt up and done something I'd have instantly regretted.

"Well, I guess if that's all you found out, I should let you get back to your reconnaissance. I'll talk to you later, you can be sure of that." Axl got up and walked out of the cafeteria, whistling as he went.

I was quivering with rage. If I didn't find somewhere where I could blow things up soon I was going to do something that would get me killed. Mavericks weren't sociopaths. Axl was just downright sick. I decided I needed another go at that simulation room.

I entered the simulation room and almost took a blast of plasma in the face. I managed to duck out of the way in time, and the plasma passed harmlessly over me.

"Whoa! Pause simulation! Sorry about that. I didn't think anybody would come in. Usually when the control panel outside says that the room is occupied people don't enter. You okay?"

I looked upwards. Zero was standing above me, offering me a hand. 'Damn it, I need to stop being so careless.' "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I…uh, I didn't think you'd still be here."

"Oh. Well, this is one of the best places to let off some steam. You looked like you could use some when you were walking in."

"Yeah, I…got into a bit of a disagreement with someone in the cafeteria and I decided to come here."

"Hmmm, probably the best thing to do. While I do enjoy the occasional bar fight, it's not a good idea to start one with someone you're counting on to get your back when you're out hunting."

"…Yeah. Absolutely."

There was a bit of an awkward pause as I tried to think of something else to say. Zero piped in before I could find a decent reason to leave. "Say, did you want to do some doubles runs?"

I assumed he meant simulations where the both of us could fight. "Sure. Yeah, I'd like that."

Zero looked markedly better after I had agreed. "Excellent. Which sim should we run?"

"Oh, I have no idea. You pick something."

"Arighty then. Howzabout Sigma's palace from the first Uprising? It'll be fun not dying this time."

"O…okay. Sure thing." 'Oh damn. If this is anything like the highway sim, then I know what's coming. Okay, just gotta keep it cool.' The sim started and away we went.

We had gotten through the first ring of Sigma's defenses and we were about halfway through the second ring when the simulation paused itself, and X walked in.

"Zero, there you are. I have been looking for you all over the place. Come on, you have to get some sleep, you still have that psychiatric appointment tomorrow."

"X!" Zero then pointed his thumb towards me while still facing X.

X's eyes went wide as he realized I was in the room. "Oh! Vava, hi. Didn't see you there." He then looked back at Zero and mouthed 'sorry.'

Zero just put his hand on his forehead. "Can it wait X? We're on a roll here."

X looked at me again and then he turned his attention back to Zero. "Well…alright. But only if I get to join in."

Zero looked relieved, not to mention the excitement evident on his face. "You got it! Just try not to slow us down."

As we made our way further through the simulation, I took a bit of a back seat to the other two. I wanted to observe them more. By the time we had destroyed all of the maverick drones in Sigma's third ring, I was convinced. These two were unstoppable when they worked together. 'Imagine if they were enemies, as Sigma would have it. The whole planet wouldn't be big enough for their fights.'

We got to a portion of the third ring that looked vaguely unfinished when I heard someone call out from the shadows. "Three hunters? That's a bit unfair isn't it? Ah well, it should make no difference. I'll crush you all!"

Suddenly the floor shook and a Goliath ride armor fell from the ceiling. A rookie hunter would have probably jumped back in fright, but I knew what this was. This was the last fight of my life. 'Well, my first life anyway.' Sitting at the controls was a purple colored, helmet wearing reploid named Vile. I leveled my buster and fired a charge shot. X did the same while Zero ran towards the ride armor with his saber, ready to cleave it in two.

To it's credit, the simulation must scale in difficulty the more hunters there are running a sim. Vile managed to swat Zero away and then leveled the armor's guns at X and I. X had already started to move, but I was slow and I was tagged with a few rounds.

'Damn it! Keep that up and it's going to beat me." Enraged, I activated my dash thrusters and leapt completely over the ride armor. I turned and unloaded shot after shot into the armors vulnerable backside. Eventually, with X and Zero both attacking it as well, the armor started to explode and the simulated Vile leapt out. "Bah! I don't need that crutch to win. Fight me hunters!"

"You got it Boba Fett!"

I hated that nickname. I couldn't tell Zero to shut it though, not without making him suspicious.

Surprisingly enough, Vile went after me fist. He dashed into me and hit me with his blue aura. This was bad. If he hit me with another attack, two if I was lucky, I would be out of this fight.

Zero called out, "X! Cover me, I'm going in."

"Roger!" The next thing I knew I was watching X, his back turned away from me, as he began shooting suppressive fire at Vile.

'He…he's wide open. I could do it; it would be like nothing. Zero would notice, but I might be able to get away before he could get to me. This…this is it.' My buster began building a charge. 'How ironic. Killed by the real thing while fighting a simulation.'

My buster finished charging and I stood. I leveled my buster at my target. Suddenly, I was totally calm; it was like the whole world had stopped and I was gifted with a burst of total clarity. Then I fired.

The ball of plasma soared past X and Zero and impacted Vile's helmet. X, a look of surprise on his face, turned to give me some form of encouragement, but I was already dashing past him. Zero had backed up slightly after I had hit Vile, trying to avoid his blind firing. I flew past him. "Vava! Wait!" I heard X's cries, but I didn't heed them.

I leapt up and unleashed another charged blast directly at Vile's shoulder-cannon luckily managing to overload it. 'That's one weapon down. Now for the big cheese.' Using the backwards momentum I gained from my shot, I managed to throw my feet forward, impacting with Vile's damaged chest and taking us both to the ground.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see X and Zero moving closer to me. They obviously didn't want to get too close. I couldn't blame them; I must have looked like an animal. I unleashed a flurry of punches directly into the small hole I had created in Vile's chest armor. He lifted his head and then pointed his hand at me. I immediately grabbed his hand and snapped it violently backwards and then to either side finally weakening it enough to where I could rip it off. He brought his legs up to either side of my head, obviously trying to snap my spine, but I would have none of that. As I began charging again, I grabbed his lower torso and, straining under the load, lifted him up and swung him back down to the floor. This was enough to loosen his hold on my head and I followed up with a super shot directly into his damaged armor. He screamed as blue electricity arc over the damaged parts of his body, and then he fell silent. Standing over him I realized how heavy my breathing had gotten. Then I turned around.

'Uh oh.' X and Zero were coming closer to me, but they didn't look too thrilled. Zero was the first to speak. "What the hell was that?"

My eyes darted over to X, but he was staring at me with the same intentness that Zero had. "Uhmm…I beat the maverick?"

It was X's turn to talk now. "That was a class eight maverick. You almost took him out with your bare hands. How did you do that?"

"He uh…he attacked me. I was just fighting back."

X shook his head slowly. "I've only ever seen one other reploid go that battle crazy before. Maybe there's something you're not telling us."

'Shit, shit, shit!' "What are you saying."

"There's no way a volunteer police force officer could take out a maverick of that caliber. Not alone. Tell us who you really are."

I looked back and forth between the two hunters. I then bowed my head and said, "I…I can't. I don't remember."

X's face turned into one of worry. "What?"

"I…one day, I woke up in an alleyway, badly damaged and with no memory of who I was. I stumbled upon the lab of this reploid engineer and he managed to fix me. But he couldn't restore my damaged memory files. After I was fixed, and I had worked for him to recompense him for the expense it took, I gave myself the name Vava and left to see the world. It was then that I learned about the mavericks and I assumed that I had been damaged in one of their attacks. I thought that if I had been damaged and left for dead, I must have tried to resist them. I found that I had some natural talent with my weapons, so I decided I would join the hunters, at least for as long as it took to find some way of restoring my damaged memory." I had just BS'd the biggest story ever to the two biggest threats to my life. I thought there was no way they would go for it.

However, some human a long time ago once said that the biggest lies are the easiest to swallow. This must have been true, because X's reaction was exactly what I had been hoping for. "Oh my gosh! That's incredible! Wow, and here I thought you were a green horn all this time. Oh man, I'm sorry. Hey, maybe Lifesaver can help with getting your memory back. He's pretty good at what he does, maybe he'll know something about restoring corrupted memory."

"That would be great. I'll have to see him. Lifesaver right?"

"Yeah, the medical bay is in the east wing. I can set up an appointment for you if you like?"

"Maybe tomorrow, it's getting late and I think I need some rest."

"Oh, that's right, Zero, you need to get ready for your appointment. I think we should probably all head to our quarters." I glanced over at Zero. He didn't look nearly as convinced of my story as X was, but I figured that X's trust was good enough for him. He turned and left the simulation room. "Well, hopefully I'll see you tomorrow Vava. Don't forget to set up an appointment with Lifesaver, okay?"

"I won't, good night X." I watched him leave and hang a right, following Zero. Then I was alone. I looked back towards my simulated corpse. I walked over to it and looked down into where the eyes were behind the helmet. "I am a hunter! I will protect the innocent and destroy anything that has the Maverick Virus. I will stop you Sigma!"

There and then, I committed myself down a path, the path I should have taken all those years ago. X was no longer my enemy. I had been in the wrong to misjudge him so. I thought I was better then him because he choose not to be responsible for the power that he had been born with. I thought that he didn't try to be a hunter, or to understand what it was all about. His constant worrying I took to be a sign of weakness. I was gravely mistaken. It's what made him so much more then anything I could ever be. It made him human and I was angry because I didn't think him worth it. All these long decades, I had never once tried to understand him, to know why I insisted on continuing my vendetta.

"No more. I will put that aside and try to redeem myself." The only problem was that if I tried to tell him who I really was, I would be retired on spot. I had to try to get him in an isolated situation. 'Maybe tomorrow.'

I left the simulation room and found the temporary barracks that was assigned to new recruits. 'Heh, empty. No wonder they made such a big deal about my signing up.' I got into the closest stasis tube and began to cycle down my systems. "First thing tomorrow, I try to find a way to talk to X privately. Then see about stopping Sigma." I entered stasis and lost awareness with the world.

Unfortunately, it didn't last...

* * *

End Chapter 5


	7. Ch 6: Dreaming of the Past

**Chapter 6 - Dreaming of the Past...  
**

_While it is rare, there are certainly recorded instances of reploids that have experienced the equivalent of dreams, the most famous of which is the prototype reploid, Mega Man X. Of course, much work has been put into what makes this possible, unfortunately, we are still decades behind the advances that made the creation of reploids possible in the first place. The designs of Thomas Light remain mysteries to even the best roboticists in the world. We can only hope that by studying X, we might learn more of what makes him so unique when compaired with other reploids. _-'Professor Xavier Hikari' -lecturing to NIT students

That night, I dreamed.

--

_My eyes opened. I saw flashing lights along with a variety of blinking displays. Squinting my eyes, I could see that they were displaying the inner construction of a reploid. Me, in fact. Suddenly, I was hit with intense pain. I tried to curl up to ease some of the pain, but I found that my limbs had been restrained with tight, and likely very sturdy, steel cables. My insides felt like they were on fire._

_"So, awake are we?"_

_I opened my eyes and looked in the direction the voice had emanated from. Standing off to the side was what appeared to be an old man. However, on closer examination, I could see the strange looking things on his shoulders were actually connected to his head, and the boots he was wearing were the standard design for reploids. The pain began to subside and I was able to speak. "Who are you? What have you done to me?"_

_"I am Dr. Doppler. What I have 'done,' is to make you better."_

_"Better? What are you talking about?"_

_"I brought you back to life and upgraded you."_

_"You…" I looked down at my body and saw what had been changed. My body was blue and covered with red stripes, but the original structure of my body was still the same. "What is this? Why did you do this?"_

_"My master thought you would be useful. And I believe you have unfinished business with our enemy."_

_"Who?"_

_"X. The same X that destroyed you years ago."_

_My eyes widened. I had another chance at revenge. "Then I assume I have been upgraded enough to survive another fight with X? Last time, didn't go so well for me."_

_Doppler pressed a button on his console and suddenly the restraints loosened enough for me to free myself of them. "Heh, correct. However, you are not to act without my permission. I want you to lay low until I deem your actions necessary."_

_"You think you can tell me what to do? Thank you for rebuilding me, but don't think you can order me around. I work for no one."_

_"On the contrary Vile, you are a maverick, and as such you will obey our leader, and he has given me command for now."_

_"Who, Sigma? I would have thought that if X was still alive he would have taken Sigma out by now."_

_"True, X did defeat our master, but what he killed was only the body. Lord Sigma lives on in his true form."_

_"His true form?"_

_"Yes, the Maverick Virus; and with it he can infect any reploid and live on."_

_I stared at this 'Doppler' for a second, and then abruptly burst out laughing. "A virus? That's absurd! And just who made this virus?"_

_"That I do not know. Only Lord Sigma does, and I will not press the matter with him. But enough questions; I have given you an order and you are to obey it."_

_I got into a fighting stance. I figured I could take some scientist. "Make me."_

_The doctor flung off his lab coat and I could finally see the rest of his armor. "Very well! I shall show you why I give the orders around here!" Suddenly Doppler began to glow as he charged directly towards me._

_I was surprised by this and just barely managed to leap over him as he went under me. "Nice move, but you've left yourself wide open!" I leveled my shoulder cannon and fired a shot at him._

_Doppler quickly turned and surrounded himself in some sort of green aura. My attack impacted with Doppler's aura and was absorbed. "What the?"_

_Doppler wasted no time charging at me again. This time I wasn't able to dodge him. I felt like I had been hit by a truck that was on fire. As I lay sprawled on the floor, Doppler stood over me. "You are lucky Vile. I have been ordered not to infect you with the virus. A most peculiar request considering it would make you immensely more agreeable, but one I must not challenge. For now, however, you will obey me, or next time I just might disable your ability to do anything but blink."_

_"Fine. I just want X any way. I'll help you, for now."_

--

The scene began to shift. I was no longer in the underground lab of Dopplertown. Now I was at the Maverick's secret island base. This time, I was painted green, and I was badly damaged. It must have been during the 'Jakob Elevator' incident.

--

_I staggered into a room, small sparks of electricity dancing around some wounds and holes in my armor._

_"Vile. Looks like you still can't defeat X, even with all the upgrades you've been given."_

_I looked over to see who had said that. Lumine stood there, arms crossed and staring intently at me. I looked away and said, "he is strong. But I was merely testing him. I will eliminate him."_

_"You are a very curious creature Vile. Why do you hate X so much? I've been studying your past as best as I can, and it seems that he had no real quarrel with you until Sigma's first uprising."_

_"I have never seen him take things seriously. He doesn't know the meaning of being a hunter. Every time he fights, he complains about how he's such a pacifist and that there must be a better way."_

_"And you don't consider this an honorable quality?"_

_"No! Not when you're a hunter and people are depending on you with their lives. You need to be able to know you're doing the right thing when you pull the trigger. X has always held back during his fights, needlessly prolonging them as he tries to reason with whoever is attacking him. If he were any other reploid he would have been kicked out of the hunters long ago, but he gets special treatment just for being who he is."_

_"Interesting. What you're saying is, you don't think X is a good hunter, and because everyone else thinks he is, you're going to kill him for it? An odd position for a maverick."_

_"Listen here you arrogant piece of scrap; I only want X. I don't care about you or Sigma or anything else now. X is my enemy and I will not rest until he's dead."_

_"Hmmm. I've always wondered about your personal history Vile. Were you always so violent? Surely there must have been a time when you and X could have seen more eye to eye, a time you could have been friends?"_

_I lowered my head and turned around. "There was a time…but it's long gone. This is all I live for now. If you'll excuse me, I have to repair myself. We are taking the Jakob elevator soon, correct?"_

_"Yes, and then we shall hold up in Sigma's palace. That's where the last resistance from the old, useless generation will crumble; where my dream will come true. A new world for the new generation reploids. It will be glorious."_

_I let out a bitter laugh. "I hope you're ready to fight for this new world of yours."_

_"My abduction at your hands was purely for show. Rest assured I have adequate defensive capabilities should it come to that."_

_"Others have said similar words."_

_"Yes, you are one of those if I miss my guess."_

_I averted my glance from Lumine and continued towards the repair bay. Lumine's line of questions had gone into territory I had not wanted to venture to. My mind began to wander to the thoughts of change. Could it have been possible that my desire for X's destruction had changed me into what I was now? I remembered that Zero used to be totally obsessed with hunting mavericks. However, I heard that he had actually been in love with a girl that he was forced to kill._

--

I suddenly felt a sharp pain that I could not identify. It didn't even appear to have a point of origin. I opened my eyes. The scene from the 'Jakob' incident had evaporated into mist. 'Why is this happening? I've never had these dreams before.' A new setting formed around me as the pain subsided. It looked like the streets of New Tokyo. I was outside of my body this time, a mere observer watching myself walking down one of the sidewalks. I wasn't in any armor. 'Is this from back before I had become a hunter?'

I seemed to be walking at a leisurely pace down the sidewalks and past the various shops. I was struggling to remember what happened all those years ago, and why it was relevant to me now. 'Why am I seeing this? When did this…wait, oh no…' I saw my other self stop in front of one of the shops, a jewelry store. The events of the scenario finally came back to me and I realized what was going to happen. As I was about to enter the store, a loud explosion reached my ears. I saw my other self turn quickly, his eyes wide as he noticed what direction the explosion had come from.

I took off running, following my dream self as it ran towards the destruction. There was a brief flash of light as my dream self warped his armor onto his body. 'No, no, no, not this! Not again! Hurry up you idiot!' I kept on yelling, even though I knew I wasn't able to interact with this vision. As I followed him, we came upon a building that was totally flattened. A rampaging mechaniloid had torn through it. 'No, this can't be happening! Why now?' The mechaniloid was already gone and being engaged by the other hunter units.

There were a few reploid paramedics already on the scene. I saw the building that had been destroyed and recognized it. My other self rushed up to the paramedics and identified himself as a maverick hunter. I listened as he asked about any survivors.

The paramedic looked away, but that gesture said more then enough. My other dashed into the wreckage and began to frantically toss away pieces of rubble, desperately trying to find the person he was looking for. Finally I saw him lift up a collapsed bookshelf that had lain under several tons of rubble. The pure shock of what he saw next caused him to freeze in his tracks. He removed his helmet so that he could see more clearly. Quickly, he reached down, picked up the limp reploid, and went over to the nearest paramedic. The medic, stunned that my other had found this reploid so fast, quickly preformed some basic diagnostics. It took less then a minute for the medic to read the results. He turned slowly to my other and looked directly in his eyes as the words fell out of his mouth. "I'm sorry, but the control chip has been shattered. She's dead."

My other said nothing. The medic turned and walked off, leaving him to be alone with her. He put his hands over hers and felt some sort of liquid fall from his eyes. Slowly, painfully slow, he let go and turned to walk away. He got two steps before he fell to his knees, screaming out in agony. He slammed his fists into the pavement so hard he almost left cracks in it.

I realized that the vision was getting further away. However, I now knew why I had seen this.

That one event had been the point everything changed. What I had said to Lumine had been true; X and I could have been friends long ago, but her death had changed that. I became obsessed with being a hunter. I lost myself to hunting. That was why I hated X so much. I thought he was demeaning the hunters with his pacifistic ideals. He didn't know why I did what I did with the fervency that I had. Maybe if I had explained myself, he would have had sympathy, but I walled myself in and refused to expose my reasons to him. I was a fool, and now I had the chance to atone. This, more then anything else, convinced me that I was doing the right thing.

--

My eyes opened. I had overslept. I meant to get an early start today so that I would have a chance to talk to X, but now I would have to wait. 'He probably went with Zero to that therapy session. Damn.'

I got out of the stasis capsule and wandered into the hallway. Immediately, I realized something was wrong. Hunters were walking by whispering things to one another. Though they were trying to be discreet, I distinctively heard X and Zero being talked about. Then I heard 'med-bay' and I realized that things were probably worse than I could have imagined.

I made my way to the medical bay and noticed that there were quite a few reploids jockeying for a position outside so they could look in. I tried to talk to the nearest one. "What's going on?"

He just looked back and said, "we don't know. Commanders X and Axl teleported straight to the med-bay with Zero in tow. Zero was unconscious and X looked like he had been attacked by something."

My eyes widened. Sigma had mentioned that Zero had already attacked X just a few days ago. 'That must be what happened. Oh god, it's starting to happen, I have to tell Cossack's bots about this.'

Suddenly, I felt someone's hand on my shoulder. The world instantly became monochromatic, and another hand covered my mouth, muffling the startled cry I was about to utter. A quiet voice whispered into my ear, "follow me. Don't make a noise, or you _will_ regret it."

I turned and saw Axl behind me. I realized then that he must be using his cloak to envelope me as well as himself. We walked away from the med bay and found an empty room off one of the hallways. Axl turned off his cloak and faced me. "Well, it's certainly been an interesting day. So, I assume you want to know why there's a big party outside of Lifesaver's pad? Well, it happened about an hour ago. I met up with X and Zero after they had left the psychiatrist's office and joined them as they went to the Robot Museum. Something about Zero looking for clues to his past or something like that. Anyways, we had just gotten to the Hall of Robot Masters when I noticed that Zero seemed to be acting strange. He started spacing out and talking to himself. Then when X and I drew closer, he attacked X. I managed to get him to release X and then he staggered into the next room. He briefly looked like he was convulsing on the floor and then he fainted."

"He was having a vision then?"

"Sure looks that way. I can only imagine the trouble this is going to cause him when X tells Signas about this. Signas is probably going to put Zero under house arrest. This just might be enough to convince him to go AWOL. Hopefully he'll find the little clue I've left, although, I doubt it. Not very bright that one."

I frowned. "What clue?"

Axl grinned and responded, "ohhhh, wouldn't you like to know? You know what I think? I think you're trying to sabotage our little operation."

I swallowed nervously. "Ridiculous. I want to know so I can help. Zero's opened up to me. We've run simulations together, he trusts me. I can help lead him in the right direction, but only if I'm in on it."

Axl looked thoughtful. "Hmm, you raise a good point. Too bad I don't give a damn. Zero may not have figured it out yet, but being _persona non grata_ with the one thing that matters to you can do interesting things for one's clarity. I'm betting he'll realize that the path to the answers he seeks is closer then he realizes." Axl turned to exit through the door, but first, he stopped to look at me. "I'll be talking to Sigma in a few minutes. He may want to see you after we're done. Keep one thing in mind, I think you're trouble, and as soon as you aren't needed, I'll be a comin'." Axl left the room and I waited for a few minutes so that, hopefully, he would be gone by the time I needed to leave.

I had to tell Cossack's robots about this new development. I quickly made my way to my secret stash and recovered my helmet. I activated my warp systems and headed for Cossack's Citadel.

* * *

End Chapter 6

Author's Note: This took longer then I thought it would. The dialogue for Doppler and Lumine was rather difficult to come up with, but after that, it just flowed out. I honestly was not sure what one event would have caused Vile to hate X as much as he does in the games. Then, when I introduced X and Alia talking to one another, the idea of giving Vile a love interest just lept out at me. It made so much sense that that traumatic an experience would be the catalyst that made Vile such a ruthless hunter, andalso serve to polarize him against X. I'm not sure how many chapters this story has left, but, rest assured, the action is heating up. The next few chapters will take place during the two days covered in chapters six through ten of DF. Well, that's about all I can say right now, I'm off to work on Chapter 7! Read and Review, I loves me the feedbacks.


	8. Ch 7: The Best Laid Plan

**Chapter 7 - The Best Laid Plan…**

_Sigma was supposed to be the most advanced reploid on the planet. He was supposed to lead the Maverick Hunters and make the world a safer place for humans and reploids to coexist in harmony. Even the best laid plans can go to waste._ -Mega Man X

I landed in the Siberian tundra just a few dozen yards from where I knew Cossack's citadel was. I walked through the cloak and used the intercom. "I'm back. We have to talk, let me in."

The blast doors opened and I bolted inside, heading towards the command room. Pharaoh Man met me halfway there and immediately began to speak. "Well? What's happening? It has to do with Zero doesn't it?"

"Yes, earlier today he had some sort of hallucination at the Robot Museum and ended up attacking X. I think Sigma's plan is going into full swing. From what I can gather, Zero's relations with the head of the hunters hasn't been at it's best lately. If I were him, I'd put Zero on suspension until a full psychiatric evaluation had been preformed. Unfortunately, Zero is trying to find out more about his past, and he's not going to stay still."

"And what does this mean for Sigma's plans?"

I had to think carefully about this. "Axl said that he had left Zero a clue that he hoped Zero would find. He wouldn't tell me what or where it was, probably because he is extremely suspicious of me at the moment."

"So we are still unable to do anything then?"

"No, I can still talk with X, get as much information out of him as I can. I just wish I knew what Axl was talking about with that clue. I think it's meant to lead Zero into Sigma's trap."

"That makes sense. And there's no way you could find out where the trap's set?"

"Doubtfully. I'm probably going to have to check in with Sigma soon. No doubt Axl's been talking with Sigma about this. I'm going to put that off for as long as I can however."

"Then you should go back to MHHQ. We will try to come up with a plan in the meanwhile."

"Agreed. I'll be back as soon as I can." With that, I turned down the hall and exited the citadel. As soon as I was clear of the cloaking field, I warped to my usual spot. I entered the base and began to look for X. However, as soon as I had entered the hallway that led away from the lobby, I saw Zero go by me in a flash. "Zero!"

Zero looked back at me and slowed his pace a little. "Sorry man! Can't talk right now. Got important stuff to do." With that he continued to dash off.

'Strange. I wonder where he's going?' I needed to find X quickly. I continued searching the base. Eventually I came upon X walking away from the bosses office. I remembered how the hunters had been operated under Cain and briefly wondered what this newer guy was like. "X! What's going on?"

X turned and looked at me, he looked very on edge. "Oh, hey there Vava. Uh… now's not really a good time, there's been some bad stuff happening lately."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, I'm sure the rumors are flying all over the place so I might as well just tell you what happened outright. We were at the Robot Museum and Zero began hallucinating. Eventually he attacked me and then fainted."

I had to act surprised at this. Sigma mentioned Zero's first attack a few days ago, but I hadn't been around at that point. "He what?"

"Yeah, he attacked me. I highly doubt he would have killed me, but it's still bad because I had to report it to Signas, and he's placed Zero under suspension and house arrest pending a psychiatric evaluation."

'Oh god damn it! That's why he was in such a hurry a few minutes ago. He was trying to get away before X could start shadowing him.' I had missed my chance to track him, now there was definitly no way I could intervene and disrupt Sigma's plan. "Oh man. That sounds pretty serious."

X sighed as he continued walking. "It certainly is. Uh, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but could I ask you to let me talk to Zero alone? I think he'll react better if I'm the sole bearer of bad news."

"Okay, sure that makes sense. I'll talk to you later?"

"I hope so. Everything just seems to be spiraling out of control right now. I wish I knew what was really happening around here."

I desperately wanted to help. To let him know what I knew, but Axl probably had lots of ears around here. I had to keep my cover intact. "Well, I wish I could help you with that X."

X turned and smiled a sort of weary, yet appreciative smile. "You've already done more then enough Vava. I'm glad to have a friend like you to talk to. Heh, I still can't believe you've only been here for two days. There's something very familiar about you though, almost like I've known you for years. Weird, huh?"

Slightly panicky, I managed to reply, "ha ha, yeah." With that, I turned and walked away. Even though he hadn't yet, I was still scared stiff that X would find someway to recognize me for who I really was. I needed something to calm my nerves down. I decided that I should probably relax at the cafeteria.

--

On my arrival, I saw the girl, Alia, sitting alone at one of the tables nursing a luke-warm bowl of soup. I decided to sit across from her so I could strike up a conversation. I wanted to know what she was like, and what about her had made X fall in love. "Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?"

She looked up from her food, slightly startled, and said, "oh, uh…no. Please, have a seat."

"Thanks," I replied.

However, before I could even begin to say anything, she started talking to me. "You're Vava, right?"

"Yeah, that's me."

She smiled and continued talking. "X has been talking about you quite a bit. Apparently he's really taken a liking to you."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, he mentioned trying to have you placed in the 17th after your performance in the simulation room yesterday. Quite an achievement, I must say, impressing him that much."

I actually did get a little flustered at the compliment. "Well, uh…that's quite an honor. I'll have to thank him next time I see him."

All of a sudden a voice echoed out over the P.A. system and said, "all unit commanders are to report to my ready room in 5 minutes. The 0th unit will send its second in command."

Alia glanced up at the ceiling. "Huh, I wonder what's going on."

I imagined that that voice belonged to the head honcho. "Was that..."

Alia nodded her head and responded, "yeah that was Signas. Something's up though, he almost never meets with all the unit commanders at the same time...unless there's a maverick attack that is."

'Or unless one of their own goes AWOL and is presumed dangerous.' "Huh, that is strange. Uh, I'm just curious but how long have you known X?"

"Well it's been a couple of decades now. Ever since the Hunter's reorganization, before the Eurasia incident. I scored best in my group of navigators, so I got promoted to head navigator; that's when I first met X."

"Wow, so quite a while then?"

"Yeah, in fact, I think Zero is the only one who's known X longer then I have. Funny, looking back now it doesn't seem all that long."

I noticed she was getting a far away look in her eyes. Obviously she had been infatuated with him for a long time before they had ever hooked up. "So, what is X like? I mean, I've gotten the idea that he's an incredibly good person in my head, but I want to get to know him better."

"If he considers you his friend, then you've got one of the best friends on the planet. He always sticks up for the people he cares for, and even the ones he doesn't. He's probably the best hunter in the world, although I guess you could say he and Zero on par with each other. The problem, though, is that X absolutely hates fighting."

This I already knew. Back when I was a hunter he always stated that he was a pacifist and that killing mavericks was wrong. "Really? But then, why does he keep doing it?"

"Everything here is temporary, we'll come and go, but X is one of the pillars of this establishment. X carries the weight of being a Mega Man on his shoulders. I've asked him many times why he can't just let go and let someone else fight, but he just tells me that he fights because he's the only one who can. He thinks that if he takes the weight of the world on his shoulders, he'll make things better for everyone else. I'm afraid of what will happen when it becomes too much for him."

"He thinks the world could be a better place, but only if he sacrifices his own happiness."

"Yeah, that's it in a nutshell."

He had obviously matured then. However, he was fighting for the wrong reasons. He shouldn't have to fight because he thinks he's the only one who makes a difference. You can't let your history determine your future. He needs to learn that he has control over his destiny. "He shouldn't have to go through all that. I'm sure there are plenty that could take his place."

"I've told him the same, but he just tells me that he's following in his brother's footsteps."

"That's no good, what's he going to do when those footsteps lead him to disaster?"

"I try to hope that that'll never happen."

I sat in contemplation for a second, when Alia's comm unit suddenly came alive. "Alia? It's X. I'm going to need to meet you in the surveillance room as soon as possible."

Alia reached for her comm and responded, "alright X. I'll be there in a few minutes." She deactivated her comm and turned back towards me. "Well, it was nice talking to you. I'll see you later."

"Yeah, bye Alia." I sat by myself, thinking. 'X sounded worried. He's probably concerned over where Zero went. But if X knows that Zero went AWOL, then that must mean that…'

"Trying to lay the moves down on X's girl, eh? Keep on doing that and X'll do my job for me."

I turned to see Axl decloaking. "Shut up! The last thing I want to hear from you are insinuations that I'm trying to get between those two."

"Wow, so very defensive. Interesting. But I'm sure you want to know what's going on, right?"

I turned back around, getting my temper back under control. "Zero's gone missing, I know."

Axl, genuinely surprised at this, said, "really? So you are still in the loop. Betchya didn't know what happened after that though. Sigma just threw down the gauntlet for the hunters. The whole of the hunters versus Sigma and his eight maverick generals."

My eyes widened, Sigma had moved on with his plan. "That's insane. Nine mavericks against the combined forces of the Maverick Hunters? What the hell is Sigma doing?"

"Maybe you should go talk to him. I think he wants to have a chat anyways. I have to be going, though. I have a cover to maintain. Ciao."

Axl walked out of the cafeteria as I sat and watched. I needed to find X. I got up and began searching through the base, finally finding him in the storage bay, searching through a giant box of files. 'Cain's copies of the hunting reports. I'm amazed those are even still here.' "X."

X looked up from the mess of folders he was searching through and said, "hi Vava. I'm a little busy at the moment."

"Wow, it sure looks that way, what are you doing with all those things."

"These are old copies of hunting reports. I need to find an old one that's been… that's gone missing."

"X, what's going on? You seem more on edge then I've seen you be, and then there's that meeting with Signas that I heard about over the PA."

"Oh, dang it, that's right. You aren't in a unit yet, nobody's going to brief you. Alright, I'll make it short. Sigma's back and he's challenged us to a final showdown. Our forces against himself and eight of his generals. The other unit commanders are briefing their units and preparing as best as they can. In fact, I'm going to be doing that once I finish searching through these files."

I knew I was probably going to regret saying this, but I had to ask. "You're looking for some clue as to why Zero ran away?"

X quickly looked at me. "How did you…"

"I saw him running through the hallway earlier, before I talked to you. I didn't know he was under suspension or I would have tried to stop him, I'm sorry X."

X's gaze slowly dropped back towards the files. "That's alright, I doubt you could have stopped him if he really wanted to get away anyway. But, in response to your earlier question, yes, I was looking through the files for a clue. One of the security cameras showed Zero entering the records room and taking one of the hunter reports with him as he teleported out. I'm assuming that it was the report made on the day Sigma, back when he was on our side that is, brought him back from the fight with that one maverick. The one that almost tore him apart."

I remembered that day. Sigma had looked like hell when he got back, arm missing, body battered, and half his face ripped off. He didn't want to talk about it at all and the report made had been relatively short. I now knew what Axl must have done. He must have wrote down the location of where the fight occurred and the warp coordinates for how to get there. Sigma probably told him about the other copy of the file so that he could get to it before everyone else and destroy it. X's searching was going to be fruitless. "Well, I guess that makes sense. I should probably go get ready then. There are a few things I need to see to."

"Yeah, I would recommend you take care of anything you need to before tomorrow. I'll see you later then?"

"Yeah…yeah you will. I'll be around. See ya X." I turned to walk away, but before I could start walking, I was overcome by the feeling that I needed to reveal more to X then I had been doing up to this point. "X?"

"Yeah Vava?'

"I just want you to know, I am not abandoning you."

X's face turned up towards me and he gave me a questioning look. "What are you talking about?"

I stared at the ground as I tried to explain what was in my head. "The next time we meet, we might not be on quite the same level of good terms as we are now. You are my friend X and you always will be. I know you consider me to be your friend, but you don't know me, or at least, not yet. Things aren't what they seem to be right now. Your friends could turn out to be the ones you have to fight, while some of your bitterest enemies will turn out to be loyal defenders. Just keep that in mind and, when you find out who I am, you'll know that I just wanted a chance at redemption." Having said all that, I turned and quickly left the storage bay.

"What? Wait, what do you mean?" X called out to me as I walked off, but I was already running down the halls.

'Damn it, damn it, damn it! Why couldn't I just keep my mouth shut?' I continued running until I was well outside of headquarters after which, I went to my hiding place to retrieve my helmet. I sighed and said out loud, "I said too much. I said way too much."

A hand touched my shoulder. "I agree. Time to go."

'OH FUC…' I wasn't able to finish my thought as Axl enveloped me in his warp field and teleported us towards the one place I knew was going to be the death of me; Sigma.

* * *

End Chapter 7

Author's Note: Uhhhhhh ohhhhhhhh... Trouble for the V-man. Stay tuned for next chapter, whenever I can get around to writing and uploading it. As always, read, enjoy, and review!


	9. Ch 8: Inner Struggle, Finding Purpose

**Chapter 8 - Inner Struggle…Finding Purpose  
**

_"X, you've always had it harder then the other hunters. You struggle to create peace, yet you have to kill to preserve it. You seem to be the only one that recognizes the inherit contradiction of that. However, the fact that you are able to do it time and time again make it clear to me that you have found your purpose. You just need to find a way to make yourself okay with that. Someday, your life will depend on it._ - Dr. James Cain

'K!…damn it…' I found myself inside the underground maverick base, and Sigma was standing before me.

"Here, he's yours. I have to go maintain my cover." With that, I felt Axl's hand leave my shoulder and heard the distinctive sound of a warp beam taking off. I looked back towards Sigma. He looked half amused at the situation.

"I have to admit, Vile, you never cease finding ways to surprise me. That's what I've always admired about you, your unpredictability. It made you an asset to me when you were obsessed with destroying X. Now, however, it looks like it has become a liability."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Now there's a quality that I don't approve of. Just because I'm a maverick, doesn't mean I'm stupid. Axl recorded your little conversation with X and transmitted it here before he warped you to me. I must say, I'm surprised at your lack of conviction. Wasn't it just the other day when you stated that your goal was to destroy X? Now you're calling him friend. What happened to you?"

'This is it. There's no way I can try to pull the wool over his eyes. May as well tell him everything.' "I realized that I misjudged him. I remembered what had caused our rift in the first place, and I know that I am just as responsible for it as he was. I've changed Sigma. I now see in X what you yourself told me he had all those years ago. I know he has the potential to change the world; he's done that over the years, but I blinded myself to it. He's matured and so have I. My pointless vendetta against him is over, I will not fight him, nor will I help his enemies. I've decided to side with who I always should have; I am, and always will be a hunter Sigma. You shouldn't have brought me back to life, you shouldn't have given me the opportunity to get close to him, and you certainly shouldn't have challenged the hunters to a duel. What the hell are you thinking Sigma? You don't have any cards left to play, this is it for you, isn't it?"

Sigma's smile was long gone, and as he frowned at me he said, "you are correct. This is it for me. However, the deck is still stacked in my favor. I have Zero."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, by now he's well on his way to discovering his origins. I'll expose him to the virus and break his will. Then he shall conclude one man's century old vision and destroy the world."

"No. X will stop him. He…"

"Wouldn't lay a hand on Zero. It's like you told me just the other day. X and Zero are inseparable, nothing could cause them to fight against one another. However, if Zero goes through with what I have planned, he won't be able to help himself, and X won't be able to bring himself to destroy his best friend, especially when he's all he'll have left."

"You mean…"

"Yes Vile, an organized group of hunters led by X, who is doing what he believes is the right thing to do, would be the only thing capable of stopping Zero. However, even as we speak, Axl is preparing the double cross that will crush the hunters once and for all. With the hunters gone, X will have no one left for him but Zero, and he won't be able to fight him."

"Not if I stop Axl." I tried to activate my warp systems, but my signal was being blocked. Sigma must have set up an EM shield to keep me from leaving. However, my weapons were still in this base, and I was able to warp them to me using my recall system. Sigma may have had me cornered, but if I went down, I would be fighting.

"It really is a shame, you had such a talented mind Vile. What a waste it is to lose that." With that, Sigma lunged towards me, hands pulsating with a dark aura. I was unprepared for the speed at which he forced himself at me. Before I was able to dodge, he had my throat in a vice grip. I felt a strange energy begin to seep into my systems. "You see, I'm not going to destroy you, like I'm sure you expected me to. I've got something much worse planned."

'The virus!' "No! Stop it!" I screamed as I felt it enter my body. My brain felt like it was on fire.

Sigma laughed as he watched me writhe in his grasp. "Don't fight it Vile it only makes it worse. Let it in, become one with it. It's so easy to just go with it."

Suddenly I snapped. I guess you one could say I went into a berserk rage, because when I opened my eyes, all I could see was red. Screaming in a mixture of anger and pain, I yelled out, "NECRO BURST!!!" Instantly, destructive energy cascaded from my body into the closest object it could find, namely Sigma.

Sigma yelled in shock and pain as my attack impacted with him, causing him to release his grasp on me. I immediately took off towards the elevator. I needed to get as far away as quickly as possible. As I ran I looked back to see Sigma rising up, obviously in some pain. "Run as far as you like Vile! It's too late, you're one of us now! Ha ha ha!"

I quickly got to the elevator and rode it to the surface. Stepping out into the tundra I knew I had to try to get to Cossack's citadel. I didn't know how long it would take for the virus to totally effect me, but I needed to let Pharaoh Man and the others know what happened.

Somehow, I managed to get through the cloak and to the door. I hit the intercom and said, "let me in! Hurry!"

The door opened and I stumbled in. Once I was clear of the doorway my systems began to go haywire and I fell to the floor. I heard someone approaching at a run. They called out to me. "Vile! What's happening? What's wrong?"

I tried to talk, but the words would not come. Angry at myself, I slammed my fist into my stomach. The pain gave me something to focus on and I was able to talk again. "Sigma…infected me. I don't have…much time before virus…takes over."

Pharaoh Man's eyes widened as he backed up from me. "Wh…what can we do then? If you become a maverick, you might destroy us and this place."

"Chain me up, lock me in a room, I don't know…just do something. Quickly…I still need to talk."

Pharaoh Man made a hand gesture that signaled Ring Man and Skull Man forward. Together they dragged me to what appeared to be an operating table and locked my limbs in place with the heaviest restraints they could find. I managed to continue speaking. "Good, now…listen carefully. I won't be able…to repeat myself. Zero's left the hunters…and I think he's…in Sigma's trap now. The hunters…will be fighting Sigma soon…probably within the next few days. Axl…has a plan to destroy…MHHQ and…decimate hunters. X…might need…help. He won't want…to fight…Zero. Got to…make him believe…truth about…Zero's creator." I yelled in pain as my vision began to get blurry, then faded away entirely. I was beginning to go into stasis. I had to finish my instructions. "Virus…stronger now. Losing…consciousness. If I…wake up a maverick…kill me. Destroy…my control chip. Don't…let me infect you."

Having said that, I violently convulsed one last time, then promptly fell into stasis.

--

"What? What's going on here?" I found myself in total darkness. Though I could see no visible source of light anywhere, when I looked down at myself, I had no difficulty seeing my body. "Where am I?"

"You're right here, Vile."

I spun around to see who was talking to me, and was greeted by the sight of myself. "What the? Are you…"

"A copy reploid like Axl? No, not at all. You see Vile, we're inside your head, and me? Well, I'm the maverick virus, and I'm here to run this show now. So, just stay out of my way and we might be able to make this relatively painless."

"No. I won't let you use me. I will fight you."

The virus' representation of me chuckled a little. "Heh, I should have known that you wouldn't just lie back and take this. Let's go then."

I got into a fighting posture, but the virus just stood there, waiting for me to do anything. I aimed my shoulder cannon at it and fired off a shot. It didn't even try to dodge as my attack hit it dead center, but as the smoke cleared I could see why. My attack hadn't even scratched the paint of this nightmare. It put it's hand to it's mouth and yawned, then it spoke again. "Is that all? Let me show you what I can do."

All of a sudden, the virus leapt towards me with lightning quick speed. "Won't be needing this anymore!" With one swift action, the virus ripped my cannon from my shoulder mount. The pain this caused was excruciating, but I managed to keep my senses and prepare another attack. As the virus turned and began to advance towards me again, I knelt down and activated my Sea Dragon's Rage. Instantly, a stream of blue flames shot out of my knee mounted cannon and engulfed the virus.

Once again, however, the virus was unaffected by my attacks and this time it grabbed me and slammed me to the ground, breaking a few things in the process. It had broken my hands and destroyed my cannon, so I was limited to a third of my usual arsenal, but it seemed that it wouldn't be enough. It was just too strong. "You're starting to give in already? Well that's no fun, but it's probably the smart thing to do. Unfortunately, I can't just let you hang out here or you might try something like this again. Rest assured, this will probably be relatively painless." As the virus stopped talking, it aimed it's weapons towards me, readying the attack that would overwrite my personality, turning me into little more then a maverick drone. I closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable.

Suddenly, another voice called out, "Vile."

I instantly opened my eyes, recognizing the voice that had called my name. Not the voice of the virus, which had somehow disappeared. No, this was a voice from another lifetime. This was a woman's voice. "It…it can't be. You're…"

"Yes, I am."

"But…how is this happening? How am I talking to you? You've been gone for such a long time."

"I can't truly say how, but I think it may be similar to a near death experience that humans sometimes have. Time seems to slow, and anything can take place. It has been a long time, hasn't it?"

"I've missed you…you don't know how hard it's been."

"I've missed you too. But you've been strong. You need to be strong."

"Why? What good is staying strong if it's hopeless anyway? Being strong won't bring you back, nor will it change what I did after I lost you."

"You're right, and you don't owe it to me to be strong. You don't owe anybody anything. You were just a little confused for a while, but you have been doing what you believe is right. But in doing so, you've sacrificed your right to happiness, and that's not what I wanted for you. You've been suffering for so long you've forgotten what it means to be happy. I can't bear to see you so."

"It shouldn't have happened. I should have been there when the mechaniloid attacked. I'm so sorry I wasn't there."

"You have nothing to apologize for. It was beyond your control. You can't do everything Vile. But there is one thing I know you are capable of. You can beat this virus."

"How, everything I've tried doesn't even scratch it. It's too powerful."

"But you have something that it can never defeat. You have a purpose, to change the world."

"I'm one reploid, how can I matter to the world?"

"You are an individual, and that is one of the most powerful things that exists on this planet. One individual has defied the odds and defeated a tyrant several times over, another has come back from the dead and helped save the world almost a dozen times. Still another was able to learn his mistakes and end a vendetta that has lasted for decades. You do have the power to change the world Vile. You know you can, don't let this abomination try to deny you that right; your right to exist!"

I looked into her eyes as her words sank in. She was speaking the truth, and I knew then and there that I could defeat this plague. I needed to believe in my purpose. "You're right. I…I can do it. I will defeat this madness. I will change the world!"

She reached for me and brought me closer to her. Then she placed her lips on mine and we shared an embrace. I returned the gesture, and after a minute, we both pulled away. She looked me dead in the eyes and said, "go now."

At these words, I got incredibly worried. "But, will we see each other again?"

She smiled and nodded her head. "Yes, but not now, it's not your time. Don't worry, I'll be waiting for you. Always."

She faded away and I could see the virus again. Apparently, it had remained in the same position it had been in for this whole experience, as if no time had passed for it at all. It suddenly began to move again; this time, there was evident surprise on it's face. "How did you do that? Bah! It doesn't matter. I'll still get rid of you."

"No, you won't. I know how to defeat you now."

The virus laughed. "As if. You can't hope to defeat me." It charged towards me, aiming a strike directly at my head. But just as it was about to connect, I raised my arm up and blocked it's attack. Faster then I could even see, I ripped it's arm out of it's socket. The virus staggered away, the pain and shock were obvious. "What the…how are you doing this?"

"I have a purpose and you can not take that away from me. I have the power to change the world." I brought my hand up to my face; it glowed with a bright white light as I began to charge up my buster. "Do you know who I am? I am a maverick hunter, a force for justice! I am an individual, whose destiny no one but I control. My name is Vile! I am I!"

I unleashed the energy that was being stored up in my buster and a spear of pure white energy hit, and went through the virus. Instantly, the virus screamed out in agony as it began to writhe in pain. Inky black tentacles erupted from it as the white light incinerated the nearest portions of it and spread outwards. The rest of the virus burned away, and I felt clean.

--

I opened my eyes, my chest heaving out of physical exhaustion. My legs and arms felt stiff, then I realized it was because they were held tightly to the corners of the table I was laying on. I tried to relax and slow my breathing down, when I heard something on the other side of the room. I looked towards the door, and saw Ring Man, holding two of his ring-boomerangs in his hands. He tentatively drew closer to me and asked, "are you…still yourself?"

I let his question sink in, then smiled and nodded. "Yeah, you can loosen the chains; I'm still me."

"How do I know you are not lying to me?"

I let out a small laugh at this, I was feeling too relieved to even try to be offended. "I guess, you really don't, do you? You're just going to have to trust me."

"Let him loose Ring. Something tells me he's still on our side."

Ring Man slowly nodded and began to un-fasten the chains that held me. After he had finished he backed up and kept his rings at the ready.

I sat up and flexed my hands feeling the stiffness begin to leave them. I looked down towards my body and checked to make sure everything seemed in working order. As the two robots looked on, I reached up towards my face and began to pull at the synthetic flesh that covered it. They both seemed confused by my actions, and Pharaoh Man asked, "what are you doing?"

"Pinching myself," I replied. "Because I want to make sure this isn't some twisted fantasy I'm going through." Pleased that pinching myself led to nothing, I went so far as to slap myself as hard as I could. The other two just looked at each other and shrugged as I looked at the hand I had used to hit myself. Then I began to laugh, not a crazy or a maniacal laugh like something Sigma would do. This was joyous laughter. There were a few tears that went down my face as I kept laughing. I noticed that Pharaoh Man and Ring Man looked worried and were slowly backing away and I tried to hold onto my emotions for a minute. "No, it…it's okay. I'm me. I did it."

"You did it?" Pharaoh Man asked.

"Yeah, I beat it. I beat the maverick virus. God help me, I can't believe it. Thank God for her, I couldn't have done it alone; it's all because of her. I'll do it, I'll keep fighting to change the world. I'll never forget you." Suddenly, I remembered what was happening elsewhere in the world. I quickly looked over to the two robots. "How long have I been out?"

Ring Man, relieved that I was apparently finished talking to myself, was the first to reply. "It's been about twenty or so hours. We were monitoring you with the cameras the whole time. You laid perfectly still for most of the time you were out but then, just a few minutes ago, you started convulsing again and we decided to come checkup on you."

I thought quickly to myself, coming up with a plan for my next move. "Twenty hours. Okay, well that gives us the element of surprise. Sigma probably thinks that I am a maverick, and he won't be expecting my involvement in whatever happens next. Okay, here's the plan; Sigma and the hunters will be fighting soon. With any luck, I can sneak back into the maverick's base and figure out exactly when and where the battle will take place. There's just one problem left to figure out."

Pharaoh Man asked, "what's that?"

"We still need to find a way to convince X that Zero was created by Dr. Wily. I'm sure he won't believe me, and, though he'll probably listen to what you guys say, I doubt you guys could convince him of that either."

Pharaoh Man nodded and said, "don't worry about that, there is one person he will undoubtedly listen to."

"Who is that?"

Pharaoh Man and Ring Man looked at each other for a second. Then Pharaoh Man replied, "he will believe his creator."

A perplexed look crossed my face. "His creator? You mean Doctor Thomas Light? That's crazy, Light's got to be dead. It's been nearly a full century since the time of Mega Man and the robot rebellions, and Light was no spring chicken back then."

Pharaoh Man continued to speak. "While the man is dead, his legacy lives on. The doctor was not without foresight. He knew that one day, his last son would require answers, answers only a father could give. You are familiar with the upgrade capsules that grant X special armor and abilities? Well, after Dr. Light sealed Mega Man X for the proscribed 30 years it would take to develop his ethical systems, he created an information capsule. It had a rudimentary A.I. that would act as him in his place and it would be able to answer any questions X had about himself or his origins."

I nodded as I took all this in. I could see where Pharaoh Man was going with this. "So we have to get X to this capsule and the A.I. will tell him that Zero was created by Dr. Wily? Sounds good, where is the capsule?"

"Dr. Light knew he couldn't risk someone else finding the capsule and possibly destroying it, so he left it in a place he knew would be safe. The capsule is in this citadel." I smiled. 'Finally a bit of good luck.'

"Unfortunately, the doctor was very concerned about security. We have never been able to activate it no matter what we tried. I am unsure how it even works, but I think X needs to be present to open it."

"Makes sense to lock it like that. Well, hopefully that little snag won't hinder our plans too much. It's like you said, the capsule probably has some security measure that will only open it for X. Light probably did that on all the capsules he made. Can you imagine if mavericks had gotten their hands on some of X's upgrades? Anyways. We need to get started on that immediately. I'll sneak into the maverick base and figure out when and where the battle is going to take place. I'll need some way of communicating with you guys."

Pharaoh Man nodded and said, "I will program our frequency into your comm system. What will you do after you have successfully finished your espionage?"

"Well, there's no way I can get into MHHQ now; Axl will definitely be on the look out and if he sees me, I doubt he'll be nice and hand me over to Sigma again. I'll have to find some way of getting X alone so that I can talk to him without every hunter gunning me down. Maybe sometime during the fight I can lure him away from the others or something like that."

Pharaoh Man looked like he was thinking this over, then he said, "it's as sound a plan as we can form right now. When do we get started?"

I grinned. "Very soon, but first…I need a paint job!"

Pharaoh Man and Ring Man, both confused, just looked at each other and shrugged.

* * *

End Chapter 8

Author's Note: Wow, this chapter got wrote quick! The whole thing just seemed to flow out of my head and onto the computer. Man, I love when that happens, it makes writing totally worth all the long stretches of writers block. Well, this story is rapidly coming to a close. I think I've only got just one more chapter left, and maybe an epilogue if I can think up one. Well, like always; read, enjoy, and leave some feedback.


	10. Ch 9: Redemption of the Misjudged

**Chapter 9 - Redemption of the Misjudged  
**

_In the end, none of us matter X. You, Zero, and Sigma will go on long after I'm dead._ _You bear the weight of your ancestors on you. You can make your choices, but, in the end, you will continue to fight for everlasting peace. Just remember, you have many allies, some you have known, some you know now, and some you have yet to make._ -Dr. James Cain.

A few hours later, I was doing my best to keep quite as I snuck through the maverick's base. Cossack's robots hadn't been lying when they said it would only take about two hours to dry. It had been hard to find exactly the right colors to use for my armor, but found it I did, and now I looked just like I did the first time I lived. 'Purple is just so much better then blue and green.' After the paint had dried, I left Cossack's citadel and reentered the base.

'Odd…where is everyone?' The truth was that, while I had not seen any of Sigma's latest generals, I had expected them all to be gearing for battle soon. This infiltration, however, was almost a cakewalk. There was nothing in the way of the central computer, so I made my way there to try to find anything referencing the maverick's plans.

Accessing the main systems, I searched through any documents that had been created in the past two days. Finally I found a recording of Sigma's ultimatum to the hunters. 'Excellent. And…play.' The file began to playback it's data. I clearly saw X, Axl, some tech on the computer, and what must have been Signas standing in a group and staring into the screen. I listened carefully to the video as X began to speak.

"You," X growled. I felt a small chill go down my spine, so to speak. It was never good to get X angry. 'It's always the quite ones.'

I heard Sigma's voice, but could not see his image as he must have been speaking from where I was. "Hello X. I bet you didn't expect to see me so soon."

"Sigma, now is the worst time you could have picked to show your face again."

"Now, now X. You don't honestly think I'm completely without knowledge of what goes on in the old HQ do you?"

Sigma was obviously referencing Axl being a spy. "What…what do you mean?"

"I mean, you have a spy in your midst. How else would I know about Zero's little, 'problem?'"

Now I saw what he was doing. He was implicating Zero as the spy, trying to instill doubt in X and the hunters. It must have worked because X looked flustered as he tried to respond to Sigma. "I…impossible. There's no way a maverick could get in here. The scanners would have…"

"Done nothing! My spy has been there for quite some time now, and your pathetic scanners could not detect him. The virus didn't affect him like it would any other. It made him better, stronger, and enhanced his abilities. But no matter. Why do you think Zero ran away from you, hmmm?"

X slowly shook his head. "No…no, I can't believe…"

"Believe what you will X, but my agent has already gotten everything I need out of you. Now you play my game. Or should I say, 'our' game?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Eight maverick generals. The combined forces of the Maverick Hunters. My best, against your best. We'll see who triumphs."

X looked deep in thought as he decided what to say. "Where?"

"Well X, that's up to you. After all, the one challenged gets to choose the location?"

"We'll fight at the ruins of Old Tokyo."

"Old Tokyo… Very appropriate X. You have twenty four hours to prepare. Oh, and X?"

X just stared at the screen.

"If you lose, everyone dies."

"And if we win?"

Sigma laughed. "X, this isn't a win-lose scenario. You don't understand do you? This is it. There will be no winners."

"What? Sigma! Wait!"

The video abruptly cut out, but I had gotten what I needed. 'Damn, I can't believe Sigma called it that short. That means, if my times are right, that their fight is starting right now!' "Vile to Pharaoh Man!"

I heard a bit of static on the other end, then the Egyptian stylized robot responded. "This is Pharaoh Man. What have you discovered?"

As I talked I decided to try to trash the maverick's computers so that, if Sigma tried to come back here, his viral form wouldn't be able to enter this base. "Good news time; the mavericks decided to give the hunters an ultimatum warning them of a fight at the ruins of Old Tokyo and they were generous enough to give them twenty four hours to prepare. Bad news; that was twenty four hours ago and I'll bet anything the reason I've not encountered a single maverick in this base is because the fight is going on at this moment."

Pharaoh Man seemed to mull this over for quite a while. "Then I assume, once you finish what you are doing there, you will be warping to the battle to try to talk to X?"

"Yeah, I should be done in a minute or so. Just need to finish sabotaging this computer."

"May I ask you a question?"

"You just did, but go on and ask another while you're at it."

"Very humorous. I was wondering why you decided to paint yourself in your true colors. Isn't X less inclined to listen to the reploid that's been trying to kill him for the past few decades then he is the new recruit who he's begun to bond with?"

"You raise a good point, but I want X to know who I really am and he probably won't believe me if I say I'm Vile. However, if I show up as Vile and reveal myself to him, I'm hoping the effect will be more pronounced."

As I continued typing on the computer pad, I was suddenly greeted by a 'warning' sign. "Looks like I might have hit a minor snag with my sabotage here, I'll call back in a minute." I turned my attention back towards the computer and suddenly a video popped up. Sigma's face was displayed, but I knew he wasn't watching me. It began to spout off a pre-recorded message.

"Congratulations, whoever you are. You have stumbled onto the hidden lair of the mavericks. It looks like you were trying to do something you shouldn't have been doing, like trying to sabotage the central computer of this base. Just know, in your last few moments, that you were the first, and last, to try to do something this stupid. Good bye."

"Oh shit…" I turned and bolted out the door as fast as the Speed Devil would take me. Getting to the elevator, I noticed that the control panel wasn't functioning. "No, not gonna die here." Looking towards the ceiling of the elevator, a plan came to my mind. I used my Two Headed Slash to cut open the top of the elevator and grabbed onto one of the cables holding the elevator in place. "I really hope this works." Firing another shot into the cables did the trick. The elevator began to fall the rest of the way down the shaft as I was sent rocketing up towards the top.

A few seconds later, I had nearly reached the top of the elevator shaft, however, the door to the outside was very likely sealed. "Here goes nothing." I released the cable and let my upward momentum carry me the rest of the way up. I floated to where I was level with the door and reared my fist back, then let fly with the Golden Right. The powerful attack went flying towards the door and crashed through with little effort. The recoil of the attack was just enough to get me to the opposite side of the shaft and I was able to kick off and go through the ruined doors. Tumbling into a roll, I quickly recovered and started running through the tundra.

A second later, I felt an immense quake as the ground underneath me shifted. A pillar of fire and debris erupted from the elevator shaft I had just been in, sending flying shrapnel all over. Luckily I was far enough that I needn't worry about it. I turned back around, and was surprised at what I saw. Cossack's Citadel was visible. 'What…what happened to the cloak?'

"Vile, this is Pharaoh Man. What just happened? We detected a large explosion in your vicinity. We had to put up the shield to prevent debris from impacting with the citadel. Unfortunately, the shield caused a disruption in our cloak and we won't be able to activate it for the better part of the day. Please respond."

"Yeah, this is Vile. I must have tripped some security device when I was sabotaging their computer and the whole thing was rigged to self destruct. I just barely got out in time. Listen, I've got all the info I need anyways, so I'm going to warp over to Old Tokyo, see if I can't get to X."

"Alright, we'll be trying to get the cloak and shield operational. Let us know if you need any assistance. Pharaoh Man out."

Having ended the transmission, I decided the time had come to warp to the battlefield. I activated my warp systems and flew off, a purple beam of light through the sky.

--

I landed in a small outcropping of rocks. In the distance, I could see a billowing cloud of smoke and a lot of dots flying around in a circle. 'That must be it.'

As I started towards the battle, I saw a bright flash on a cliff to my left, some sort of explosion. I made my way closer, until I got to the cliff and was overlooking the main force of reploids. 'Now, where's X? Better try to tune into the hunters comm channel.' Hopefully I would be able to find them quickly. Undoubtedly they had changed the channel from what it had been when I was a hunter, but if I knew them, it wouldn't be that far from the original. I kept going through them until, finally, "Roger that. All right people, let's move!"

It was X's voice. 'Alright, score. Wait, now what's happening?' A group of reploids, hunters probably, on ride chasers were approaching the conglomeration of reploids. Now I was able to see Sigma's generals. 'Clones? He always did think he was better then every other reploid. They must be copy reploids.' I continued to scan the battle field and noticed a large number of hunter corpses already. 'How on Earth could they have suffered so many casualties already? I can't believe they were this out of practice. Axl must have had something to do with it, he probably infected several units of the hunters with the virus.'

It was a good thing I was focused on the copies of Sigma, because suddenly X leapt onto the copy of Sigma's original form. 'What is he…oh my god!' X delivered two kicks to the back of the copy's legs and brought it to it's knees. Then he dashed away, just as one of the hunters on the ride chasers made a suicide run into the copy, destroying both parties and sending X flying towards another Sigma. I was impressed, that hunter knew he was dying and decided to take his enemy with him: excellent.

As I continued watched X I saw him battling another copy, this one with claws. The copy disappeared, then reappeared behind X. X fired off a shot, but the copy just kept coming and it grabbed X in it's hand. I wanted to intervene, but suddenly, two Goliath mechs slammed the copy between their fists, doing severe damage. X finished it off with a shot to the head and then went to continue the fight. 'Amazing, he's like a force of nature.' The hunters managed to take down the copy that was using a shield, and the one that looked like it was only half-way completed, but then something else went drastically wrong.

I knew Sigma probably had something up his sleeve, but I thought that it may have just been something that would have led to a final showdown between him and X. Then I felt the shockwaves and heard the explosion far in the distance. I turned and saw a gigantic cloud of ash directly above Maverick Hunter Headquarters. Fire licked at the still standing structure, a testament to it's architect, but I knew that it would only be a matter of time before it collapsed. I looked back at the fight and saw X staring at the cloud as well. One of the copies, a gigantic gun in hand, came up and yelled something to X.

'Bad move buddy.' X turned and did some weird sort of gesture. Then plasma began to rain down on the copy. This, coupled with the other attacks X was making, eventually destroyed it. I heard X's voice over the comm again. "Dane, do you copy?"

"Yes sir. What do you need?"

"There's only two Sigma's left. I need you to finish the battle while I find out what the hell just happened at HQ. I'm trusting you with finishing off Sigma."

"Roger that sir. It should only be a matter of time now."

"Exactly. X out."

X turned into a bright beam of energy going straight towards MHHQ. I followed close behind, landing at my usual spot and proceeding from there. Suddenly, I saw X, and I hid behind a piece of wreckage. 'He must not have been able to beam in. Axl probably did something to the shields to keep everyone in the base when it blew.'

Regardless, X plunged in to the building without a moments hesitation. I wondered what could be causing him this much anxiety. Then, realization hit me like a brick. 'Oh no. He's looking for her.' I quickly activated my comm. "Vile to Pharaoh Man. We have a big situation here."

"What's going on?"

"The plan has just been totally fubar'd. I'm going to need you to get over here right away."

"'Fubar'd?'"

"It means…never mind just get over here. Axl just blew MHHQ to kingdom come. X went in and I highly doubt he's going to be in a good mood when he finds what he's looking for. I'll give you safe coordinates to land at. You'll show up in a nice little rock outcropping and you should have no problem finding a spot to observe the battle from. Above all else, stay hidden. If I manage to smooth things out here, you might not have to intervene at all. If everything goes to hell again, I'll trust you to show up when you think it's necessary."

"Affirmative. Pharaoh Man out."

I turned off my comm and entered the burning ruins of MHHQ, trying to find any indication of where X went. I resisted the urge to call out to X, feeling that it was probably better that he wasn't aware of my presence here yet. I made my way closer to the middle of the base, looking in every room for X.

Then I found it. Neither of them noticed me, X had his back to me and, consequently, was blocking Alia from seeing me. Then, Alia spoke. "X…I want you to promise me something. Don't remember me like this. Remember the good times, please. No matter what happens to me, I want you to live. Promise me that X."

X's voice was cracking as he obviously tried to maintain composure. "I promise Alia."

Alia must have gone offline, because X slowly backed away. Then he let loose a howl. "NOOOO!!" A scream so pained it sent a shiver down my spine. It was déjà vu. This was nearly the same situation I went through all those decades ago. She looked just as peaceful as mine did, and he was just as much a wreak as I had been.

I swallowed and took a deep breath; this was going to be difficult. "X, I'm sorry."

The effect this had on him was instantaneous. In a split second he was on his feet, glaring at me with eyes that betrayed the pure, unadulterated rage he felt at seeing me here. "You! You did this?"

'Act calm, try to reason with him.' Deep down I knew X was a rational being, but still, everyone has their limits. 'I hope he hasn't been pushed past his yet.' "No. I didn't, even though you probably don't believe me right about now. I don't go around slaughtering innocents and blowing up buildings for fun X. I never have. I've only ever had a problem with you."

"Why the hell should I trust you, maverick? Give me one good reason right now why I shouldn't tear you to shreds."

That stung a bit, but I probably deserved it considering how lost I had been over the years. Still, I needed to tell him the truth. "I'm not a maverick. I never have been."

"That's impossible. You've been with Sigma since…"

"Since the beginning, yes. In all that time I was never infected with the Maverick Virus. Now, if you are done questioning me can we please leave? This building is going to collapse any second." I figured I should leave out Sigma infecting me only a day ago as it wouldn't really help my case. X stared at me, then turned to look at Alia's body. I could tell he didn't want to leave her here. I tried to do my best to consol him. "She wouldn't have wanted you to stay. I didn't know her, but I can tell that from what she said to you. Come on, we have to get out of here." I figured there was no need to let him in on the conversation we had had in the cafeteria, it was of little consequence now and it might only make X angry.

X turned to look at me, his entire being still radiating anger, but on a much smaller magnitude. The he started to follow me as I led the way out of the building, our pace quickening with every groan the building was making. We got out of the building and were a short distance away when the whole thing finally gave way, and collapsed on top of itself. I stood and caught my breath while X turned towards me and asked, "so, do you know who did this then, Vile?"

I turned to face X and said, "yes, I do X, but you won't like the answer. It was Axl."

As predicted, the look of disbelief was written all over his face. "What? That's impossible, Axl would never do something like this."

I had to convince X of the truth, so I continued. "Maybe not normally, however being infected with the maverick virus will do that to ya."

X crossed his arms, skepticism evident. He wasn't totally willing to believe me, but he seemed confused by my current actions. Good enough for me. "I can't believe that. He was there, fighting Sigma, with me."

I shook my head. "Did you see that one of the members of his unit was missing?"

His eyes went wide. That meant that he had indeed noticed that, but had decided not to think anything of it. "Oh god. A copy-reploid?"

"Precisely. The copy posed as him while the real one did this."

"Then, he was the spy?"

"Yup. And he has been for quite some time, ever since the 'Jakob' incident."

X now definitely realized that I was speaking the truth. "God, that's how Sigma knew to infect the 8th and 10th." X then angrily shouted "why? Why did you let it happen when you knew what they were going to do."

I remained calm and replied, "that Axl was the spy was the extent of my knowledge. Besides, if I had shown up on your doorstep trying to warn you about a trap, would you have listened?"

X's head fell; he knew I was making sense, he was just having a hard time accepting it. "But then, if, like you say, you hate me so much, why didn't you fight me with Sigma? Why aren't you fighting me now?"

I took another deep breath. 'Here it comes.' "There's something bigger happening X. Sigma's plan, if it succeeds, will result in complete annihilation of everything on Earth. I can't let that happen. Besides, a guy can only hate for so long, and trust me, I've had a long time to think about what I'm doing right now. I hated you because you were naïve and childish. You didn't take being a hunter seriously and you didn't try to understand what it took to be one. Sigma once told me, back when he was semi-normal, that you had the potential to change the world. I didn't believe him at first, that's why I wanted so desperately to defeat you. However, you have matured. And so have I, I guess. I realize now that, for all the advances made in reploid science, you are still the most advanced robot ever to be made. You aren't a reploid, you're a human in a metal body. I don't hate you anymore, in fact, I would like it if we could be friends." 'Time for the big reveal.' I reached up to my neck and lifted my helmet off, revealing my face to a stunned X. After a split second of confusion, I saw recognition dawn on X as he mouthed out the name 'Vava.' I just smiled and nodded my head. I could tell that he finally understood what I had been talking about in the storage bay and that he knew I was not his enemy. After doing this, I stuck out my hand towards him.

X, tentatively raised his hand, and then took mine. Years of animosity and hatred faded away as we shared a moment of friendship. Then he asked, "so…where's Axl?"

"My guess would be with Sigma."

I saw X gasp in revelation. "Oh no! The other hunters. Let's go!"

He activated his warp system, heading back towards the battle. I put my helmet back on and followed close behind.

--

It was a graveyard that we landed at. The bodies of hunters lied on the ground, oil and hydraulic fluids leaking everywhere, polluting the soil beneath. The hunters had failed. Immediately, X was on the lookout for any survivors, when we spotted Axl, gun drawn, walking over to one hunter who was on his knees, head bowed, and leaking fluids out of multiple wounds. I ran forward as fast as I could, X close on my heels, fully intending to put an end to this. When I got in range, I let fly my Infinity Gig. It was one of my most reliable and powerful weapons, but I imagined it probably wouldn't do too much to Axl. It stung a bit to admit it, but for all his boasting and threatening, he probably could kill me, given the chance.

My fist returned to me and I could see the surprise evident on Axl's face. The tables had turned, very much not in his favor. I smiled under my helmet, letting myself feel smug. 'Surprise sucker! Bet you didn't expect to see me again, huh?'

X stood at my side, his anger evident. "You traitor! You killed everyone in the base. We trusted you."

Axl laughed. "That was your mistake, fool. And aren't you the hypocrite? Teaming up with an enemy are we?"

"He's not who I'm concerned with. I'm going to…Pallette? What the…"

Axl looked over at the female reploid that had come up to his side. Then he stroked his hand up and down her cheeck, as if he was showing off a trophy to his conquests. "I decided to take her with me. Gave her a little upgrade. However, it was a bit too much for her fragile little mind to handle, unfortunately. Pallette, hon, go attack."

That cinched what I had already expected. She was infected with the virus. 'She probably trusted him too. Bastard!' "Kill!" Pallette charged at X. X barely managed to dodge out of the way as she threw herself at him. Then I saw the black aura surrounding her hands.

I had to let X know what that aura was. I yelled out, "she's been infected! Don't let her touch you!" I fired my Straight Nightmare at her, trying to draw her away from X. A purple beam of energy flew from my cannon, impacting the girl and knocking her down. "Take care of the traitor, he's out of my league. I'll handle the girl."

X looked unsure at first, he obviously didn't want the girl to be hurt, but he realized it was too late for her and he returned his attention to Axl. Meanwhile, the girl got up and started heading for me. 'Pathetic, she wasn't a combat reploid. Axl knew she wouldn't stand a chance. Sadistic bastard.' I dodged her initial charge and fired my Infinity Gig at her. It landed a few good hits, but she leapt towards me with a fury that I wouldn't have expected. 'Virus must be enhancing her abilities.' She landed in front of me and I made to jump over her, avoiding her charge again.

This time, however, she jumped straight up and grabbed me out of mid-air. Startled, I let out a short cry as we both tumbled to the ground, her hands clamped around my throat. Of course, one might think that that was a futile gesture, considering that reploids don't need air. Unfortunately, I noticed a strange feeling emanating from her hands as she held her grip. She was introducing the virus to my systems.

My eyesight began to tunnel, and I could hear that mindless drone that the virus epitomized. '**Destroy. Infect. Survive.**' My head felt as though it was full of cotton, and for a brief moment, I considered how easy it would be to just give in.

'NO! You won't take me again!' Suddenly, everything was clear again. I had self-deleted the virus a second time; somewhat unsurprisingly, this time had been much easier. 'Today's just full of surprises.' Letting go of the girl's hands, I reached up behind her back and violently pulled her towards me in some sort of mockery of an embrace. The girl let out a startled cry, not realizing that I had somehow become immune to infection. I looked her in the eyes and said, "I really am sorry about this." Then I activated my Burning Drive.

The girl screamed as my attack caused the air around her ignited, making most of her synthetic skin char and crumble off her body. I could see sparks emanating from where her metal skeleton had become so hot it fried internal circuits. I let go of her and she rolled off of me, clutching her head in agony. Not wanting her to suffer more then the virus was already making her, I quickly activated my Infinity Gig and hit the center of her head, piercing and destroying the control chip inside. She dropped to the ground in a heap. 'Another victim to avenge.'

I turned to look for X and saw him standing over Axl's body. Surprisingly, Axl was pointing his gun at his own head. As I made my way over, he spoke something, I couldn't tell what, and then pulled the trigger, sending a mag-round through his control chip. I wondered what on Earth could have caused him to do something like that, when I noticed a purple tendril snake itself away from his head, into the air. I began to run towards the scene. X looked confused, but then drew back in realization, crying out, "Lumine!" I quickly leveled my cannon and fired the Straight Nightmare. Luckily, the tentacle did exactly what I thought it would and launched itself towards X. My attack intercepted it and it began to burn, disintegrating as it fell to the ground.

I drew closer to X and he turned to look at me. He looked like he was about to say something, but I held my hand up and said, "no need to thank me. Just be more careful."

"Axl…it wasn't him. He was being controlled against his will. He was one of my best friends…I couldn't save him."

'So, Lumine was controlling him? Well, that explains a lot. But if X doesn't get out of this funk he's in, he won't be able to fight.' "X! Stop. You can't change what happened; you have to deal with it and move on. Deaths always happen in war. You can't save everyone who needs it; you have to do what you can with what you have where you are. Expecting anything more sets you up for a fall. Besides, we're not done yet."

He looked at me, weariness evident on his face. "You took care of Pallette right?"

I lowered my head, the bad feeling from killing her had not left yet. "The girl? Yeah, but she's not the one I meant."

"Ha ha ha!" We both turned towards the voice. Sigma stood on a rock outcropping, observing us. Now was the moment he chose to include himself. "Tsk tsk, X! I didn't think you would be able to kill Axl. Typical. However, you have surprised me, teaming up with one of your worst enemies, so maybe you are ready. Either way, I have fulfilled my purpose. My time has come."

X quickly yelled back, "I'm glad you think so. You won't survive Sigma. You may have all but wiped out the hunters, but you have lost; you will never threaten the world again."

"You're right. I won't. I keep telling you though, X. This isn't about winning or losing. It's about your destiny. You see, I was merely the precursor to the storm. The real fight is soon to come."

I saw a beam of red light appear behind Sigma. Sigma, however, kept on talking. 'He couldn't have missed that, it landed right behind him. He must…oh, oh no!' I quickly activated my comm and quickly said, "I need you here right now!"

Sigma continued his rant unabated. "Your fight, your destiny, does not end with my destruction. You are a Megaman. There is only one opponent who can destroy you. It will not be me. I was made by an inferior who copied only what he could understand from your designs. Your true foe is your equal. However, he will surpass you and… EYAH!"

Sigma screamed in pain as a bright green shaft of light emerged from his chest; a beam saber. Sigma began to laugh through the pain. "He is here! Farewell X!" The saber was pulled out and then a mighty swing cleaved Sigma's head from the rest of his body. Sigma's body fell to the ground, revealing the attacker to the both of us.

X was the first to respond, yelling out, "Zero!" However, I could instantly tell that something was wrong with him. His eyes looked empty, devoid of life and the personality that I had known from our brief time in the simulator. Zero threw he head back and laughed; a sound that surpassed even Sigma's insane cackling.

"Oh god. It's happened." I knew that the plan had once again been messed up, this time, however, I couldn't think of any way to improvise.

X turned towards me. "What? What's going on?"

I looked at him and said, "Zero's been infected! He's a maverick. X, you have to get out of here. You aren't ready for him yet." X wouldn't fight him yet. Despite what he had just seen, X was still Zero's best friend, and now that there were no hunters left, Zero was all he had left.

X was visibly stunned. "Zero? Maverick?"

"Commander!" Both X and I turned and noticed the still living hunter drawing near to Zero. "Commander Zero!"

X called out to him. "Dane! No!" The reploid wouldn't stop, it was nearly delusional.

I grabbed X's shoulder and brought his attention back to me. "It's too late for him X. You've got to leave."

But X would not be shooed away so easily. "How did this happen. Tell me now!"

I took a deep breath and did my best to summarize the plan Sigma had explained to me. "Sigma's plan was for Zero to learn his origin from his creator and then turn him maverick so that he would destroy you, and everything in the world. I hoped it wouldn't work. I never knew where Sigma would meet Zero or I would have stopped him. Sigma did tell me about Zero's past, but it's not my place to tell you the truth about him. You wouldn't believe me. Only one man has the right, and he's the only one you'll listen to."

X looked confused. "Zero's origin? But who else would know? How would I find him?"

A new voice appeared behind us. "Mega Man X. The last child of Dr. Thomas Xavier Light. Come, I shall be your guide."

I turned to see Pharaoh Man walking towards us, 'right on time.' I gave off a weak smile and nodded towards the robot.

It looked towards me and nodded back, then turned it's attention towards X. "Come with me X. All your questions will be answered."

X looked like he was seeing a ghost. He had obviously not expected to meet one of the only surviving pieces of the Age of Mega Man. "Pharaoh Man?"

Pharaoh Man spoke again. "Yes. We must hurry X. Time is short, and there is much you need to know, take my hand." X, however, kept hesitating.

I couldn't stand it anymore. "Damn it X! Get out of here!" I pushed X forward, causing him to clasp on to Pharaoh Man's hand. X turned to look at me, shock evident on his face, before the two of them dissolved into beams of particles flying through the air. I sighed a bit as I saw the two leave for Cossack's Citadel, where X would find the answers he was no doubt seeking. "Good bye X. It was nice, being your friend."

I turned around and saw Zero charging me. Another little voice in my head piped up now and began talking to me. 'You know what's going to happen now, don't you? He's going to kill you! Run away damn it! You know nobody's going to rebuild you now that Sigma's gone, right? The only people who know you're not a maverick are X and the Cossack robots, and none of them will probably try to rebuild you. Well, what are you waiting for? You could run. He'd never find you. No one would! Hardly anybody knows what you look like. You could hide forever. Why wouldn't you?'

'X is the only one that can stop Zero. I need to give him time. This is the only way. I've made my peace with this. I should've died a long time ago, I was given a second chance and I have redeemed myself. I made peace with X and have taken my place as a maverick hunter. As it should be.' I came out of my reverie and saw Zero, charging at me, full speed, saber drawn. 'Finally, a real fight.' "Come on monster! Show me what you've got!"

Zero leapt towards me, saber ready for a slash. I fired my Straight Nightmare at him, but he brought his saber down, cleaving the beam of energy in half. He landed in front of me and lifted his saber up. Before I could even move, he thrust his saber into my shoulder cannon, turning it into a pile of scrap. I knelt down and fired my Bang Away Bomb towards him, causing him to back up a few steps. Then I rushed forward, firing my Triple 7 Vulcan cannon to try to keep him off guard so I could follow up with another attack. I jumped up and prepared to fire my Dragon's Wrath flamethrower. Zero, however, took the instant I used to stop firing my Vulcan and jump into the air to close the distance between us. As fast as lightning, he brought his saber up and sliced at my midsection. I fell to the ground my lower half sparking and leaking oil and hydraulic fluids. Zero walked forwards, slowly, like a predator closing in on a kill. I waited for him to get close enough, then fired my Golden Right. I caught him off guard and he was sent backwards a few feet, only for him to come back at me. I wanted to keep attacking, but I saw that my weapons energy was not recharging. 'Must have taken…too much damage. Well, I guess that…this is it.' Zero stood over me, looking slightly more cautious now that I had successfully surprised him. He flipped his saber around in his hand and lifted his hands to the air, preparing to drive it into my skull. Our fight had only lasted one minute. Not bad. "Good luck X." It was all up to him now. I had achieved redemption. No longer was I misjudged, and no longer did I misjudge those I had in the past. I was Vile. I was I.

Zero plunged the saber into my head. There was no pain, physical or otherwise.

--

I was in a white area. Nothing was surrounding me. I looked down at my body and saw that I was still in one piece. My legs were attached to my body, no evidence of the damage Zero inflicted on them. My armor and weapons were gone as well. "Great, now where am I?"

"You are dead Vile, Zero killed you. You won't be going back. This is…I guess you could say it's the afterlife."

I turned around, 'oh god!' "It's…it's you. Are you…"

"I am as real as you are. It's been quite a while. I've missed you."

"I missed you too. But, how are we…"

"Humans think they're the only ones with souls. We are special Vile. I guess we have some how been given the divine spark. We think, we feel, we love. We are like humans. I don't know if this is some sort of heaven, or some other religious sort of place, but we are here, and there are others."

"Wait, what about X? Zero? What's going to happen them. To the world?"

"The world will go on. Trust me. Both X and Zero will survive. Their story has yet to come to an end, ours however, is over for good. We are going to remain here, together."

I sighed, relieved at this news. I looked back towards her. "Together… As long as I'm with you, I'm as close to heaven as I can be."

"Let's go then, I'll make the introductions."

We walked off in one direction, the area around me becoming more and more beautiful, filled with life. As we kept walking, I saw various other figures; relaxing, talking, laughing. There was a select group of young looking people, they looked strangely familiar. One had long blond hair, another wore sunglasses and a bright yellow scarf, and yet another sat besides a large purple dog. There was an old, bearded man with them, and, as they talked, a boy who had been petting a bright red dog got up to greet us, smiling knowingly…

---

The End.

* * *

Author's Note: Well, there it is. My little spin off to Denique Fatum. Overall, I'm proud of it. I think it may be one of the few stories on the internet that interprets Vile as a sympathetic character. Well, on to the special thanks section.

Thanks to my buddy, who I've tossed ideas around with and who was the one that informed me of some of my many mechanical errors.

Thanks to all the people who read and hopefully enjoyed the story.

Special thanks to those of you who left reviews. I always appreciate any feedback that people can give to me, be it positive feedback, or constructive criticism.

Special thanks to Erico and Magus523 who, with their works, inspired me to create Denique Fatum, the basis of this story.

Extra Special thanks to Keiji Inafune, for created the Mega Man universe, especially Maverick Hunter X, which heavily influenced my protrayal of Vile in this story.


End file.
